NTR’s Murley wind farm in Northern Ireland has entered into a corporate power purchase agreement with pharmaceutical company Almac Group.
The corporate power purchase agreement market is relatively nascent in Northern Ireland and the timing of operations and the output from Murley, a 21.6MW wind farm located in County Tyrone, will allow Almac to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the electricity it consumes.
Almac, headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, has operations across Ireland, including in Athlone and Dundalk.
The six-turbine project is expected to achieve commercial operation in the second half of this year when the power purchase agreement will commence, providing Almac with enough clean power to reduce carbon emissions from electricity at their Craigavon campus headquarters by 95%.
Almac’s Craigavon campus has undergone significant expansion in recent years and employs over 4000 of Almac’s 7000 global workforce.
Murley wind farm was acquired by the NTR Renewable Energy Income Fund 2 in 2022 and construction of the project is advanced.
Francisco Del Rio, Associate Director of Power Sales at NTR, said: “We’re hugely excited to be partnering with Almac, an innovative pharmaceutical business based in Northern Ireland, on this long term corporate power purchase agreement.
“Such agreements play a critical role in not only supporting business’ sustainability goals but having a wider impact on driving the clean energy transition across Northern Ireland and the rest of Europe.”
Niall Harkin, Executive Director, Almac Group, said: “We are delighted to partner with NTR on this exciting project which will allow us to power the operations at our Craigavon site with fully certified renewable energy.
“Almac’s participation in this project is a crucial step on our journey to net zero and will significantly reduce carbon emissions from the electricity we consume.”
A&L Goodbody acted as legal advisors to NTR on the corporate power purchase agreement and Rabobank is the financing partner on Murley Wind Farm.
Almac was advised by E&Y Dublin on the commercial side of the Power Purchase Agreement and by Pinsent Masons Belfast on the legal side.