ESB fund to invest €20m into wind energy developer

ESB Novusmodus is to invest €20 million in an Irish wind energy developer which builds and runs on-site turbines for large businesses who are looking to reduce energy costs.

Sat, 09 Apr, 2011 - 01:00

Claire O'Sullivan

Wind Energy Direct (WED) also provides energy packages whereby customers can lock in their energy costs at current levels for five, 10 or 15 years, avoiding rises in energy inflation.

Businesses who employ WED — manufacturing facilities, hospitals and data centres for the most part — never buy the wind generation facilities or make any kind of capital outlay in the wind project. They just avail of WED energy pricing.

The company’s clients include Munster Joinery, which installed two turbines at its North Cork operation two years ago.

The ESB Novusmodus investment will be used for the development of up to 75MW of onsite wind projects for large energy users across Ireland and Britain.

Announcing the funding, Michael Aherne of ESB Novusmodus said: “WED will allow Irish businesses to maximise the opportunity for auto-generation and for 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.”

Wind Energy Direct managing director, Dominic Costello described the investment as “a significant vote of confidence in WED from the most experienced energy supplier in the Irish market”.

“The development of our pipeline of projects will lower energy costs for our customers, hedge them against the volatile energy market, help reduce Ireland’s emissions and create 10 new jobs immediately bringing the WED team to 20 and create over 80 indirect jobs,” he said.

Novusmodus is an investment firm whose aim is to provide capital, support and knowledge to companies, projects and management teams in the renewable and cleantech sectors and is investment adviser to ESB Novusmodus, a €200m fund established by ESB, the leading Irish utility.