Renewable

November 22 (Renewables Now) - Norwegian oil and gas major Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) will be partnering with Irish utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB) to jointly work on offshore wind projects in Ireland.

The tie-up will seek to identify suitable locations for new offshore wind farms in Irish waters and will also work to “mature” existing projects, state-owned ESB said on Thursday. More specifically, the partners’ goal is to examine suitable large-scale projects with planned commissioning by 2030, thus supporting the country’s ambitions to achieve a 70% renewables share in the total power mix by 2030 and become carbon-free in 2050.

Options for energy storage and other technologies that could be integrated with offshore wind farms will also be explored.

The statement says the two companies will combine Equinor’s global experience in offshore wind projects with ESB’s know-how in the development and operation of power generation schemes in the UK and Irish markets. “By collaborating with innovative, like-minded organisations such as Equinor we will play a leading role in the transition to a clean energy future,” said ESB generation and trading executive director Jim Dollard.

In June, the Irish government released the country’s new Climate Action Plan that calls for the installation of up to 8.2 GW of onshore wind, at least 3.5 GW of offshore wind and up to 1.5 GW of grid-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity by 2030.