Bord Gáis to invest €750m in electricity sector

STATE COMPANY Bord Gáis plans to invest up to €750 million in expanding its operations into electricity generation and renewable energy. The company, which operates the State's natural gas network and supplies more than 500,000 homes with the fuel, intends moving into the electricity market with the construction of a number of generating plants.

According to its chief executive, John Mullins, it has up to €750 million available on its balance sheet to spend on its expansion. He told The Irish Timesthat around one third of this, €250 million, could be spent on building a presence in the renewable energy market.

"We are going to be looking at a very significant investment in renewable energy," he said. He added that this would mainly involve developing wind power, but could also include other forms of renewable energy.

The company intends using the balance to invest in expanding its presence in the general energy market, and it intends developing several gas-fired electricity generating plants. Bord Gáis is working on a €400 million power plant in Cork, where it is based.

However, Mr Mullins confirmed that it is one of the parties in the running to buy two sites that fellow State company, ESB, is seeking to sell at Tarbert in Kerry and Great Island in Wexford.

The company is looking at the possibility of developing "peaking plants", used to supply power when demand is at its highest, and more flexible gas-powered generating stations.

"What we're doing ties in with Government policy on both renewable energy and ensuring security of supply," Mr Mullins said. He added that Bord Gáis was focused on becoming a broad-based energy supply company.

None of the ESB's existing competitors are supplying the domestic electricity market, as they say it is too expensive to invest in the infrastructure needed to cater for homes, which use comparatively little energy compared with businesses.

However, Bord Gáis has a customer service structure in place, and has said it is interested in competing in the domestic electricity supply market.

The State company is also interested in buying Marathon Oil's Irish businesses, which include the Kinsale and Ballycotton gas fields off the south coast, as well as an 18 per cent interest in the Corrib field off the west coast.

Marathon supplies around 10 per cent of the gas that Bord Gáis requires from the Ballycotton and Kinsale fields. The Texas-based multinational said last week that it is reviewing its Irish operations, and would sell them if it were to get an "acceptable" offer.

Along with Bord Gáis, Island Oil and Gas and Providence Resources are also interested in the Marathon assets.