The firm behind an abandoned €1.4 billion “landmark” offshore wind farm off the West coast spent €50 million on project costs before the scheme was halted last year.
New accounts filed by the Corio Generation-backed Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta show that accumulated losses at the company totalled €56 million at the end of March 2025.
The accounts report that the business incurred €18.32 million in project costs in the 12 months to the end of March 2025. This was in addition to the €31.7 million the company had already spent on the project in the previous tow financial years.
The directors said the project ceased in April 2025 “following a review of market conditions and project specific constraints”.
READ MORE
The directors said shareholder funding would be available to enable the company meet its obligations during an orderly wind-down of activities. Fuinneamh Sceirde said it does not have any committed funding in place.
In light of the circumstances outlined, the directors said the financial statements should not be prepared on a going concern basis.
TV chatshow host and standup comedian, Tommy Tiernan was one of 177 third parties to lodge submissions with An Coimiúsin Pleanála on the contentious plan to construct the 450MW wind farm with 30 turbines over 1,000ft high in the Atlantic Ocean.
The decision to halt the project in April 2025 came only three months after Fuinneamh Sceirde lodged plans with the appeals board to construct its Sceirde Rocks wind farm in water between 5km to 11.5m km off the West coast, with Carna in Galway the nearest settlement.
The wind farm was to have the capacity to power 350,000 homes.
Separate accounts lodged by Fuinneamh Sceirde’s UK-based parent, Inis Top Company Ltd show that it impaired in full its €12.69 million investment in Fuinneamh Sceirde following the April 2025 decision not to proceed with the wind farm “due to challenges in the offshore wind market”.
Inis Top Company Ltd’s accumulated losses totalled €70.39 million at the end of March 2025.
Three Galway businessmen, who were among seven individual and corporate investors in Fuinneamh Sceirde, are suing joint venture firm, Inis Holding Co Ltd, which is indirectly owned by Corio Generation Ltd – a company within the Macquarie Group – and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board over a share purchase agreement related to the project.
The court has heard that studies showed it was not possible to ensure the wind farm’s survivability for technical, weather, environmental and engineering reasons.
The new Fuinneamh Sceirde accounts – signed off on April 27th – do not make reference to the High Court action. Inis has said previously that it intends to fully defend all claims and does not believe it has any liability.
