Finavera Renewables has agreed to the co-development of the 105 megawatt Cloosh Valley Wind Project in County Galway with SSE Renewables (Ireland), the Irish renewables development division of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE). The move follows the sale of a majority stake in Finavera’s wholly owned Gate 3 grid connection from Eirgrid to SSE for Eur8.4 million. SSE already owns Irish wind energy company Airtricityafter acquiring the Irish business for £1.1b in 2008..
Finavera Renewables has signed a co-development agreement with SSE and Coillte, the State-owned commercial forestry and renewables company, to jointly develop the Cloosh Valley project. Coillte is the landowner at the project site and has been a development partner on the project with Finavera since 2009. Finavera will retain a 10% equity interest in the project and will participate in all project development functions and activities.
The Cloosh Valley Wind Project has nameplate capacity of up to 105MW and has received a Gate 3 Node Assignment from Eirgrid. The wind resource at the Cloosh Valley project is among the strongest in Europe. The project capacity of 105MW would exceed all current onshore wind farms in Ireland and would provide enough electricity for approximately 68,000 homes.
“SSE brings significant development, construction, and operating experience to this project. The strength of the development team now behind the Cloosh Valley project illustrates the value of this project, which has some of the best available wind resources in Europe. We now have the right team and a clear path to construction and full operation of the Cloosh Valley project,” explains Jason Bak, chief executive of Finavera Renewables.
SSE is one of the UK and Ireland’s leading energy companies. It is involved in the generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity; energy trading; the development of major renewable energy projects; the extraction, storage, distribution and supply of gas; electrical and utility contracting; and telecoms. SSE owns just over 11,300MW of electricity generation capacity, including its share of joint ventures and associates. This makes it the second largest electricity generator across the UK and Ireland. The capacity comprises 4,590MW of gas- and oil-fired capacity, 4,370MW of coal-fired capacity (with biomass ‘co-firing’ capability), and 2,370MW of renewable capacity.