ESB leads Euro 20 million fund in Irish wind energy

ESB Novusmodus, a Euro 200 million tech fund, has announced it will lead a Euro 20 million investment in Irish wind energy developer, Wind Energy Direct (WED).


The fund will enable the development of on-site wind projects to provide energy for heavy electricity users such as factories, hospitals and data centres.

The turbines will be built with up to 75MW of wind generation capacity and will reduce carbon emissions by up to 1500 tonnes of CO2 per annum per MW.

The users will benefit, without any capital outlay on their part, from locked-in energy prices lasting five, ten, or fifteen years, which will provide price stability and break the link with inflation.

Michael Aherne of ESB Novusmodus said: “WED will allow Irish business to maximise the opportunity for auto-generation and for the exploitation of their wind and land resources with a well-funded, expert developer.

“Their offering represents an excellent economic and environmental proposition for large energy users at a time when we need to move from our over-dependency on fossil fuels.”

WED will construct, own and operate the turbines and the project will create 10 new jobs and over 80 indirect jobs. The company plans to invest around Euro 100 million in total over the next three years.

WED managing director, Dominic Costello said: “The development of our pipeline of projects will lower energy costs for our customers, hedge them against the volatile energy market, and help reduce Ireland’s emissions.”

Alison Brown

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