Finavera sells majority stake in Galway wind project


25 Aug 2010

Irish company Finavera Renewables announces agreement to co-develop the 105 megawatt Cloosh Valley Wind Project in County Galway and says it has sold its majority stake in the scheme.

The company said it will sell a majority interest in its wholly owned Gate 3 grid connection from EirGrid to SSE Renewables (Ireland) for €8.4m, which will be payable in stages.

Finavera has also signed a co-development agreement with SSE and Coillte 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. The latter will retain a 10pc equity interest in the project and will participate in all project development functions and activities.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Scottish and Southern Energy [SSE] and Coillte on the development of the Cloosh Valley Wind project,” said Jason Bak, CEO, Finavera Renewables.

“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.”

According to Finavera, the wind resource at the Cloosh Valley project is among the strongest in Europe and the project capacity of 105MW would exceed all current onshore wind farms in Ireland and provide enough electricity for approximately 68,000 homes.