Profits top €2.4m at Airtricity owner’s joint venture

Profits at a green electricity joint venture between Airtricity owner SSE and businessman Michael Murnane topped €2.4 million last year from €137,000 in 2022, new figures show.

Revenues at Cork-based wind farm owner Green Energy Company Ltd rose more than 25 per cent to €12.9 million in the company’s last financial year, which ended on March 31st 2023, from €10.6 million in 2022.

Accounts just filed by the business show that profit after tax surged to €2.44 million in the period to the end of last March from €137,474, aided by the strong revenue growth.

Costs for both years stood at €8.5 million while interest payments dipped €400,000 to €1.4 million in 2023, further boosting the company’s bottom line.

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That left pretax profit for its last financial year at €2.9 million, more than 10 times the €258,343 recorded for the 12 months to the end of March 2022, the accounts show.

Green Energy Company Ltd is a joint venture between SSE Renewables Ireland, part of Scottish utility, SSE plc, which owns Airtricity, and Mr Murnane, a well-known figure in the industry.

The wind farm it owns in Rylane, Co Cork, has the capacity to generate 57 megawatts of electricity, roughly enough energy to power 20,000 homes, according to some industry calculations.

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The company earns revenues from selling the electricity generated by the Rylane wind farm to the wholesale electricity market.

Green Energy Company’s accounts cover most of 2022, when electricity prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, an unusually good summer that year hampered wind farms’ ability to generate electricity, and thus revenues, as wind speeds were lower than average for sustained periods.

Wind farms such as Rylane benefit from a State scheme that guarantees minimum prices for the electricity they generate.

The accounts show that the company owed €16.4 million to its immediate owner, Green Way Energy Ltd on March 31st. Total liabilities were €36.6 million while total assets stood at €37.7 million.

SSE Renewables Ireland owns 50 per cent of Green Way Energy while Craydel Unlimited Company, in which the accounts state that Mr Murnane holds a 9.55 per cent stake, owns 45 per cent.