Windfall of €24m due with new Enlight wind energy deal for Ireland

14 Aug 2015

Wind turbine image via Connor McKenna

The Israeli firm Enlight Renewable Energy is expected to bring a ‘windfall’ of €24m to the Irish wind energy sector after signing a deal to develop a wind farm capable of producing 100MW of power.

Enlight Renewable Energy plans on establishing a new major wind farm development in Ireland over the next few years in an as-yet unconfirmed location in the north-west of the country.

The company is one of the largest of its kind in Israel and is part of the larger Eurocom Group; it has already begun construction on a 13.6MW wind farm in Ireland, due for completion towards the end of 2016.

In a statement confirming the deal, the company said that the project is expected to generate annual revenue of about 13m shekels (€3m) for 25 years, with funding expected to be 80pc debt and 20pc equity.

Speaking of its decision to invest in Ireland, CEO of Maya International Strategic Alliances and the intermediately on the deal, Maya Shaltiel, praised Ireland’s wind energy potential.

‘We are targeting as much as we can’

“Ireland’s target of electricity production from renewables by 2020 is 40pc, with market potential equal to 4,000MW, compared with 2,000MW today.”

He went on to say that the country has been “very supportive” with regulation for wind power.

Enlight’s vice president of marketing and business development, Zafrir Yoeli, has since said in an interview that he and the company are now eager to heavily invest in Ireland in the future.

“When we enter into a market we would always like to get to 100MW. We would like to increase by several tens of MW next year, it will depend on the market,” he said.

“We are targeting as much as we can, we would like to do more projects of a similar size to the one we’re doing now or bigger.”

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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