A joint venture (JV) between Ørsted and ESB has received provisional rights from the Irish Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment to develop the Tonn Nua offshore wind site in County Waterford, the Republic of Ireland. 

Tonn Nua, covering 306km², is the only site offered under the Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS) Tonn Nua. 

It is Ireland’s second offshore wind auction, and provides a partially indexed 20-year contract for difference (CfD), allowing the winning bidder to apply for a seabed lease and grid connection. 

The CfD supports the development of a 900MW fixed-bottom offshore wind farm at Tonn Nua. The awarded strike price for the CfD is €98.71 ($114.43) per megawatt hour.

The contract will begin after the commissioning of the wind farm, which is expected in the mid-2030s. Specifically, the wind farm is expected to be operational by 1 January 2037. 

Ørsted Europe region development head Alana Kühne said: “We commend the Irish government for running a successful auction, continuing the support for the development of offshore wind in Ireland. 

“Offshore wind will play an important part in the future Irish energy system, ensuring green, affordable and secure energy. 

“We will continue to work with our joint venture partner ESB to carefully assess and progress this early-stage development opportunity, including ensuring that the project lives up to our value creation criteria.” 

ESB and Ørsted formed a 50/50 JV in 2023 to develop offshore wind projects along the Irish coast. 

The Tonn Nua site, currently in the early stages of development, is the first project from this partnership to advance to the auction stage.

The ESB-Ørsted JV will now undertake further assessments and progress the project through its internal stage-gate process.

Ireland’s transmission system operator, EirGrid, will construct the transmission infrastructure for the project, including offshore and onshore substations and export cables. 

ESB generation and trading executive director Jim Dollard said: “ESB is delighted with the outcome of the ORESS Tonn Nua auction. 

“It secures a clear pathway for the development of a significant project off the coast of County Waterford, marking another important step toward Ireland’s renewable energy and net-zero ambitions. 

“We look forward to working with our partners to deliver a project that provides significant energy security and price certainty for Irish consumers.”