Eni joint venture Vargronn targets Irish offshore wind with local player
Offshore wind specialist part-owned by oil group allies with Energia for potential 1.8GW
Vargronn – the offshore wind group part-owned by Italian oil group Eni – unveiled plans to enter the Irish market in partnership with local renewables developer Energia.
Vargronn and Energia said they will initially partner to focus on two fixed-bottom projects each of up to 900MW, one in the North Celtic Sea and one in the South Irish Sea, which have the potential to be operating as soon as 2030.
Extensive preparatory work carried out by Energia including seabed surveys and detailed work for environmental impact assessments mean they could quickly move ahead “subject to government policy”.
Olav Hetland, Vargronn’s CEO, said: “We look forward to bringing Vargronn’s concentrated offshore wind expertise into the partnership and progressing projects together, building on the extensive development work already completed by Energia.
“Having strong local expertise is critical to successfully delivering projects that provide affordable power at scale and speed while contributing to local jobs creation. Energia’s long-standing local presence and track record with delivering a wide range of onshore renewable energy projects in Ireland, therefore makes them an ideal partner for us.”
Ireland has some of the world’s best resources for offshore wind but only has one project in the water, the 25MW Arklow Bank 1 that entered service almost two decades ago.
Norway-based Vargronn, a joint venture between Eni and Norwegian investor HitecVision, entered the offshore wind big time last year when it took control of a 20% share in the UK’s giant Dogger Bank project.
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