The ESB has kickstarted a sale of its Corby power station in the UK, and is in exclusive talks to buy a wind farm in Co Galway that has a corporate power purchase agreement with Amazon.
The ESB’s 350MW power plant at Corby in Nottinghamshire is a combined-cycle gas turbine asset that it has had an ownership interest in since it opened in 1993. It acquired full ownership of the plant in 2011.
The planned sale of the Corby power station, and the ESB’s interest in the Gusta Gaoithe Wind Farm, were both first reported by industry publication PeakLoad.
The ESB declined to comment on either the planned Corby sale or the wind farm acquisition.
PeakLoad said that Evercore is advising the ESB on the sale of Corby, with teasers now sent out to prospective buyers.
Evercore has said that the Corby plant has “planning permission for a repowering” that will deliver a “modern, efficient and flexible OCGT [Open Cycle Gas Turbine] for an all-in cost lower than a new build”.
The ESB also owns the 884MW Carrington power plant near Manchester, which began operations in 2016.
PeakLoad reported that the ESB approached financial advisers this summer to help it with the acquisition of more renewable energy assets in Ireland and the UK.
It is planning to buy the 101MW Gusta Gaoithe Wind Farm in Galway from Invis Energy.
Invis Energy is a joint venture between Asper Investment Management and Craydell Group. It put the wind farm up for sale last year as it completed construction.
The ESB noted in its interim accounts last week that it has also recently completed the acquisition of the near-52MW Pallas Windfarm in Co Kerry.
Corporate power purchase agreements enable renewable energy projects that might not otherwise be built to be financed and constructed.
Amazon has two other renewable energy projects in Ireland, including a wind farm in Co Cork and another in Co Donegal.
The three wind farms are expected to produce more than 670,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy for the Irish grid each year, which is equivalent to the energy needed to power roughly 160,000 homes annually.
Amazon said this week that it has invested €22bn in Ireland since it first established a presence here in 2004. Last year alone, it invested €3bn. Apart from the office-based staff it has here, it also has data centres and a newly-opened fulfilment centre.
