Clare firm in wind energy project

An Irish company with Clare and South Galway interests will co-develop the 105-megawatt Cloosh Valley Wind Project in Connemara, it was announced this week.
The publicly traded Finavera Renewables also made it known that it has sold a majority interest in grid connection for Ireland’s largest onshore wind project to Scottish and Southern Energy for €8.4 million.
Finavera Renewables revealed that it has signed an agreement with SSE Renewables (Ireland) Limited, a division of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), to sell a majority interest in its wholly owned Gate 3 grid connection from Eirgrid, which will be paid in stages.
Finavera also signed a co-development agreement with SSE and Coillte, to jointly develop the Cloosh Valley project south of Oughterard in Galway.
The Cloosh Valley Wind Project has nameplate capacity of up to 105MW and has received a Gate 3 Node Assignment from Eirgrid.
The wind resource at the project is among the strongest in Europe. The project capacity would exceed all current onshore windfarms in Ireland and would provide enough electricity for approximately 68,000 homes.
Coillte owns the project site and has been a development partner on the project with Finavera since 2009. Finavera will retain a 10% equity interest in the project and will participate in all project development functions and activities.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Scottish and Southern Energy and Coillte on the development of the Cloosh Valley Wind project. SSE brings significant development, construction and operating experience to this project. The strength of the development team now behind the Cloosh Valley project illustrates the value of this project, which has some of the best available wind resources in Europe. We now have the right team and a clear path to construction and full operation of the Cloosh Valley project,” said Finavera Renewables CEO, Jason Bak.