Equinor has pulled out of its partnership with ESB to develop offshore wind in Ireland.
The Norwegian company made the decision in part due to regulatory uncertainty, according to the Irish utility.
The government has yet to introduce a consenting regime, delayed holding a first offshore wind auction and has yet to nail down firm grid offers for projects.
Since partnering in 2019, the Equinor-ESB partnership has kicked off development of several fixed and floating projects all around Ireland.
“Equinor has decided to not continue its early phase offshore wind activities in Ireland,” said a spokesman for the Norwegian outfit.
“Equinor has, and will always have, a disciplined portfolio approach to growth. We have reviewed the market situation and potential investments in line with our strategy to develop profitable growth in renewables and decided not to pursue our offshore wind activities in Ireland at this stage.”
ESB said the decision was taken “in part due to the local regulatory uncertainty”.
The Irish developer said it was “disappointed” with the decision. Equinor has been contacted for comment.
ESB added it will continue to develop offshore wind in its home market as “significant preparatory work” has been done on the multi-gigawatt portfolio.
“While ESB is disappointed with the decision by Equinor to withdraw from Irish offshore wind development, this in no way diminishes the ambition of ESB to deliver an offshore wind portfolio of scale in our home market,” said the spokesman.
“The ESB team is making strong progress on the development work associated with an exciting multi-GW portfolio of projects. The first of these projects, Oriel Wind Farm in partnership with Parkwind, will enter into the first offshore wind renewable auction in 2022.
“We are confident that ESB will have a significant role to play in the delivery of new offshore wind in Ireland, both fixed and floating, to 2030 and beyond.”