ILOS Energy secures €143m finance for Cork solar farm project

PJ McCarthy, Soleire Renewables managin director, Niko Krane, CEO and co-founder of ILOS Energy, and ILOS Energy managing director Mark Varian.

Renewable power producer ILOS Energy has secured a new €143m debt finance facility to fund construction of a major new solar farm project in Co Cork.

The facility agreement signed with Danske Bank will directly fund the construction of a new 217MW solar farm project in Ballyhea, near Charleville in Co Cork. Construction of the Ballyhea solar farm project started in April and is progressing ahead of schedule to date.

When complete, the utility-scale solar project developed with partner Soleire Renewables will sit on 500 acres of land and produce enough renewable electricity to power around 39,000 homes.

Construction on a separate 217MW solar farm project near Roscrea in Tipperary is almost complete following a capital investment of circa €130m. 

Construction of ILOS Energy’s Erkina Solar Farm in Tipperary was completed earlier this year following a €130m capital investment.

The Erkina solar farm in Tipperary commenced its energisation process with EirGrid in late October and will be ready to export renewable electricity to the national grid by the end of the month.

Between them, ILOS Energy’s first two solar farm developments in Ireland will have a combined capacity of almost 440MWs. 

"ILOS Energy and our development partners in Soleire Renewables are proud to be bringing projects of significant scale to market that will make a tangible difference to Ireland’s 2030 climate targets,” said ILOS Energy managing director Mark Varian. “Over the coming years, we’ll continue to progress further utility scale projects in other strategic locations of the country, which will play a vital role in decarbonising Ireland’s energy system while also enhancing our security of supply.”

ILOS Energy has six utility-scale solar projects in active development in Ireland through the company’s partnership with Soleire Renewables. ILOS Energy is headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany and has active projects in development in seven European countries.