ESB and Cork's Ørsted partner on 2 wind farms feeding €120m green hydrogen plant in habour

Two of the seven huge wind farms will be off Cork's coast with Aghada to get Ireland's first hydrogen plant.

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Cork's status as a European hub for green energy construction, generation and research and development gets another huge boost today with the announcement of a billion-euro partnership.

Danish renewable giant Ørsted - who base their Irish ops on Lapp's Quay in Cork City - has agreed a long-term partnership with the ESB to develop a massive network of Irish offshore wind farms.

Two of the seven planned will be off the Cork Coast - in the Celtic sea area that has also seen extensive oil and gas exploration - and they will be known as Celtic 1 and Celtic 2. It's a boost for the harbour and the Cork economy after last week's news that the Government has refused further permission for fossil fuel extraction in the Celtic Sea.

Recent studies into the potential for green energy off the Cork coast - which has almost perfect conditions for mega wind farms - have forecast that the Rebel County alone could be generating more wind energy than Germany, the UK and France by the end of the decade. Some experts have said Cork could become the 'Saudi Arabia' of green energy if we can get our act together in terms of infrastructure and investment.

A global conference of industry leaders will happen in Cork city later this month to hear how the south coast of Ireland is poised to become a major world site for green energy production and innovation.

Today's announcement of the partnership between ESB and offshore wind company Ørsted has the potential to deliver up to five gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy and complementary renewable hydrogen projects.

The ESB-Ørsted deal includes an agreement to explore opportunities from renewable hydrogen produced from the projects in the longer term.

And that will add to the momentum behind plans for Ireland's first green hydrogen production facility at Aghada in Cork harbour.

Cork-based energy company EI-H2 has plans for a €120m 50-megawatt plant using electrolysis technology to generate the fuel which could power everything from homes and factories to cars and public transport.

When completed, the Aghada site will be one of the biggest green energy facilities of its kind in the world, according to EI-H2 Aghada's owner, Cork businessman Pearse Flynn.

Jim Dollard, ESB Executive Director of Generation & Trading, said the scale of the partnership with Ørsted was huge and the future is very much in the renewable energy revolution.

"ESB is developing a large renewables pipeline, and as part of that has developed a strong portfolio of offshore wind projects around the coasts of Ireland," Mr Dollard said.

"We are delighted to partner with Ørsted, a global leader in the offshore wind industry, in developing this portfolio in Ireland. Offshore wind in Ireland will play a key part in the delivery of the ESB Strategy, Driven to Make A Difference - Net Zero by 2040," he added.

Duncan Clark, Senior Vice President and Head of UK and Ireland at Ørsted, said that with a strong Irish onshore portfolio already in place, the company was delighted to begin its journey in the Irish offshore market with ESB - the company that brought electricity to Ireland.

"This partnership combines complementary strengths relevant to development in this market and creates an ideal platform for Ørsted to bring its global expertise in the delivery of offshore wind to bear in Ireland," Mr Clark said.

"From the world's first offshore turbine in Denmark in 1991 to the world's largest operational offshore wind farm, Hornsea 2 in the UK, Ørsted has been a driving force behind the commercialisation of the offshore wind industry across Europe, Asia, and America as part of our vision to create a world that runs entirely on green energy," he added.

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