Competition commission clears ESB and Coillte joint venture 

The overall plan is to generate approximately 1,000MW of renewable energy on Coillte land.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has cleared the joint venture between the ESB and Coillte to develop renewable energy projects.

The two companies agreed on a partnership in 2019 to focus on the construction of windfarms on Coillte-owned land around the country. 

While some solar energy sites may be considered, the bulk of the venture will focus on onshore wind energy.

The overall plan is to generate approximately 1,000mW of renewable energy, enough to power around 500,000 homes. 

It is understood around 20 windfarms will be built on Coillte’s nationwide landbank at a development cost of €1bn to €1.5bn.

However, the CCPC had to approve the partnership to ensure there would not be a "lessening of competition in any market for goods or services in the State".

In the course of the investigation, the CCPC identified potential competition concerns related to the risk of exchange of competitively sensitive information. 

To address these concerns, a set of joint proposals were put forward that included the ESB and Coillte nominating an independent chairperson who will ensure that directors appointed to the proposed joint venture by ESB will not have access to or exchange competitively sensitive information between the ESB and the proposed joint venture.

Following further analysis, the CCPC concluded that these commitments address their competition concerns and cleared the joint venture.