Bord Gáis Energy, a leading energy services provider, is proud to have significantly strengthened its renewable energy portfolio with the announcement of multiple long-term power purchase agreements with prominent renewable energy developers.
These projects total more than 629MW of installed renewable capacity, spanning both solar and onshore wind technologies and are supported under Ireland’s Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS).
Once they are operational, Bord Gáis Energy will be the largest off-taker of solar powered energy from the RESS scheme.
This week’s announcement significantly advances Bord Gáis Energy’s journey to net zero by more than doubling its renewable energy portfolio.
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The company’s solar and wind portfolio will move from 380.70MW on January 1st, 2025 to 979.3MW on October 1st, 2028, supplying more green energy to the grid, helping customers on their journey to net zero and energising a greener, fairer future.
The newly signed solar agreements are with Highfield Energy, BNRG, ILOS Energy and Power Capital Renewable Energy and onshore wind offtake agreements are with Encavis and Tullynamoyle 5. Under the power purchase agreements, the electricity produced from these solar and wind farms will be included in Bord Gáis Energy’s generation portfolio.
John Dalton, director of trading with Bord Gáis Energy, said: “This is a pivotal time for Bord Gáis Energy as we repurpose to become a leading green energy business. We fully support the government’s target of reaching 80 per cent renewable energy by 2030 and recently announced the next phase of our investment programme – €1 billion between 2024 and 2029 to support Ireland’s energy infrastructure and the green transition.
“A core element of this is growing our renewable energy portfolio. We’ve partnered with trusted renewable energy developers and the newly signed agreements will amount to almost 1 TWh of clean electricity annually, enough to power approximately 250,000 residential homes. Many of these projects are already live or expected to energise in 2026 with some longer-term agreements active in 2028.”
Gavin Jones, director at Highfield Energy, said: “We’re proud to be a leader in solar energy generation in Ireland and through our Highfield Solar business we have been significantly growing our assets across the country. We have been working with Bord Gáis Energy since 2018 on our existing wind farms, and we are delighted to continue the partnership with our latest solar developments. Our agreement with Bord Gáis Energy enables our solar generation to participate in the electricity market and ultimately allows our renewable energy to be purchased by Irish energy users.”
Bord Gáis Energy currently operates a 445MW combined cycle gas turbine in Whitegate, Co Cork which can power up to 400,000 homes.
The company is developing two 100MW peaker plants in Dublin and Athlone, with a third peaker planned for Galway to facilitate the growth of renewable energy and ensure security of supply.
