Renewable energy company Orsted has started to build a 55-megawatt (MW) solar farm just outside Cork city, with the project expected to generate enough electricity for 16,000 homes.
The solar farm is being built as part of a contract awarded under the State’s fourth Renewable Electricity Support Scheme.
The development at Ballinrea, which is between Cork city and Carrigaline, will be the Danish renewable energy company’s second solar project to start construction so far.
The renewable energy plant is expected to be fully operational by next year and will bring the firm’s Irish investment to €800 million.
Orsted has been awarded contracts for, or is developing, solar projects that will generate 700MW in all.
TJ Hunter, who is Orsted’s vice-president of onshore in the UK and Ireland, said he was delighted that construction of the firm’s second Irish solar farm had started.
“If we are to ultimately achieve a green energy future in Ireland, solar is a fundamental piece of the jigsaw,” he said, pointing to what he called the company’s “strong solar pipeline”.
He said the Danish company would “continue to look at opportunities for solar projects in Ireland” to help the Government achieve its target of generating 8GW of solar energy by 2030.
“While challenges remain, we are confident we are going in the right direction to create an energy system run on clean, reliable and renewable power,” Mr Hunter said.
Orsted employs more than 100 people at its European onshore headquarters in Cork.
The company has started work at its first solar farm in Ireland, the 81MW Garreenleen project in Co Carlow. Completion is expected next year.
In March, the firm announced it had signed a landowner lease agreement with Cork-based Greenhills farm, one of Ireland’s largest dairy farmers, with the goal of using the site for renewable energy generation.
At the time, Mr Hunter said east Cork, in which the latest project was also located, “has some of the country’s best solar energy generating conditions” with the site being credited with “the potential to generate enough renewable energy to power in excess of 52,000 homes”.
The company is also involved in offshore wind projects in Ireland, having entered into a 50:50 partnership with the ESB in 2023 with the hopes of generating up to 5GW of offshore renewable energy. State-owned ESB said the projects were expected to compete in the Government’s offshore wind auction.
