RWE has acquired 100% of Irish company Western Power Offshore Developments, which is in the early stages of developing the East Celtic Wind Farm project off the coast of Ireland.
Located around 10km off the coast of Wexford and Waterford in Ireland, the East Celtic project will significantly expand RWE’s offshore wind developments in the country and contributes towards its target of expanding its powerful, green generation fleet internationally up to 50GW by 2030.
The East Celtic project is in the very early stages of development, and important decisions have yet to be made, from the overall size of the wind farm to turbine locations, cable routes and land-based developments.
A major public consultation exercise will take place to gather views from local people to help inform the future direction of the project design.
Depending on the final agreed installed capacity, and once fully developed and constructed, it could have the potential to generate up to 900MW of clean wind energy.
It is anticipated that it could also bring significant economic benefits to the South East region of Ireland, during both the construction phase, and across the operational life of the wind farm.
RWE’s adoption of the project as part of the acquisition reinforces the company’s commitment to offshore wind growth in Ireland, and makes it a key partner to the Irish Government in the delivery of its target of connecting 7GW of offshore wind capacity to the grid by 2030.
CEO Wind Offshore of RWE Renewables Sven Utermohlen said: “The acquisition of the East Celtic wind farm project is a significant step in the growth of RWE’s Irish offshore business, East Celtic is targeting inclusion in Ireland’s offshore Phase 2 round and could be invaluable in contributing to the Irish Government’s 80% renewable energy target by 2030.
“RWE is a global leader in the development of offshore wind, and we are excited about this next phase in Ireland’s renewable journey and look forward to expanding our team and working with stakeholders to advance the project.”