Shannon Energy, Obton win 120 MW of solar in Irish tender

A joint venture (JV) between Danish solar developer Obton and its Dublin-based partner Shannon Energy has secured the entire 120 MW of capacity it bid for in Ireland’s first tender for renewable energy capacity.

Shannon Energy powered by Obton, as the JV is referred to, has taken part in the solicitation with 11 solar photovoltaic (PV) schemes, it said on Tuesday. According to the provisional tender results, all of them will be awarded long-term contracts. The secured projects account for 15% of the overall awarded capacity in the tender round.

The Danish-Irish JV estimates that the winning projects will require an initial investment of EUR 100 million (USD 117.6m). The capacity will be installed across eight Irish counties and will be hooked to the grid by 2022. The power plants will have an output that will be enough to supply up to 20,000 homes annually.

Ireland held its first renewables tender as part of its new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) programme, which has a budget of up to EUR 12.5 billion (USD 14.77bn) until 2025. Solar and onshore wind projects with a combined capacity of 1,275.5 MW have been declared "provisionally successful," the government said. The final results from the tender are due to be announced on September 10.

Shannon Energy powered by Obton aims to invest EUR 300 million to deploy over 500 MW of solar PV capacity in Ireland over the next five years by taking part in future RESS tenders, it said.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.176)

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