Danish solar PV company Obton A/S has upped its ambition to expand in the solar PV market of Ireland along with its local partner Shannon Energy – together they plan to install 1 GW of solar PV capacity in aggregate by 2026. They expect to invest €750 million ($899 million) to reach this capacity over the next 5 years.
This is a major increase to their business plan for the market previously announced in January 2020 when the 2 partners said they plan to invest €300 million to jointly set up 500 MW solar power capacity in the country through their joint venture (see New JV To Develop 500 MW Solar In Ireland).
Speaking to the Irish Building Magazine, Shannon Energy CEO Noel Shannon said the joint venture with Obton will attempt to acquire more early stage opportunities to build solar projects on suitable Irish farms to reach the 1 GW target.
In August 2020, the 2 companies said they won 11 solar projects under Ireland's 1st round of Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) representing a combined capacity of 120 MW, to be located in 8 counties (see Solar Appears To Be Winning Over Wind In Irish Auction).
The 1st facility out of the 11-project win, with 8 MW capacity, is set to enter construction in June in County Tipperrary to be equipped with close to 20,000 solar panels.
Ireland has been attracting several players to its solar power market with its target to install 12 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030 as detailed under the country's Climate Action Plan (see Ireland Aims For 12 GW RE Capacity By 2030). EDF Renewables will start construction on its 1st projects in the country in May 2021 after it acquired Wexford Solar Ltd. (see EDF Renewables Planning To Build 3 Solar Farms In Ireland).
In April 2021, a new Ireland headquartered renewable energy entity was launched with Andy Kinsella, the ex-CEO of Mainstream Renewable Power, as the its founding partner and CEO (see Multi GW Renewable Energy Entity Launched For Europe).
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