Irish green transition blow as Equinor exits $2.3bn plan to swap coal plant for floating wind and hydrogen
Norwegian giant confirms it 'won't move ahead with offshore wind in Ireland' as partner cites concerns over regulatory progress
Equinor has pulled out of plans to co-develop a giant floating wind project off Ireland, in a blow to the nation’s energy transition ambitions that was said by its former partner to be partly down to frustration with slow regulatory progress.
“The coast of Ireland has strong wind conditions, making it an interesting market for offshore wind, however 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.”
Although Equinor did not elaborate further, its former partner claimed the decision was partly linked with slow progress putting a regulatory regime in place for offshore wind development.
ESB said in a statement: “Following a review by Equinor of its strategy to develop profitable growth in renewables they decided to stop their early phase offshore wind activities in Ireland, in part due to local regulatory uncertainty.”
ESB said it remains committed to offshore wind development off Ireland, although it was not clear what plans are now in place for Atlantic@Moneypoint.
The utility said: “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.
“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.”
Ireland a draw offshore
Ireland has emerged as a major draw for developers looking for new offshore wind development opportunities in Northern Europe, with more than 12GW of fixed-bottom and 10GW of floating wind projects at various stages of development by the likes of Shell, TotalEnergies, Ocean Winds, Iberdrola and Cobra/Flotation Energy.
The nation’s booming datacentre industry is seen as a major opportunity for green power deals, while Moneypoint was one of several big renewable hydrogen initiatives envisaged.