The ESB has purchased a 50 per cent stake in the landfill gas company, WimpeyEPC, which generates electricity from five dumps in the Republic.
While the purchase price was not disclosed, it is understood from industry sources the stake is worth about £6.5 million (€8.25 million).
Wimpey-EPC is the only company in the Republic producing electricity using gas from landfill dumps. Currently its five sites generate 15 megawatts of electricity - enough to supply about 50,000 people.
Wimpey, the British civil engineering and construction group, is selling its stake in the joint venture to the ESB which will form a new company with EPC called Irish Power Ltd. EPC (Electric Power Controls) is a small Irish company based at Dunsink, Co Dublin, which first developed landfill gas technology about nine years ago.
Landfill projects use the gas produced when bacteria break down rubbish to generate electricity. The gas is taken from the landfill through a series of vertical wells, drilled into the body of the waste.
Such projects are regarded as being environmentally friendly because the mainly methane gas is not dispersed into the atmosphere.
Even if landfills are closed the gas can still be harnessed for decades afterwards. "The ESB believes its investment is sound, because even when sites are closed a fuel source for future generating requirements still remains," said a company spokesman.
The new company is hoping to establish generating operations at six landfill sites and has a contract to generate power from the proposed dump at Kill, Co Kildare, said a director of EPC, Mr Michael Devaney. He added that other local authorities were likely to require landfill gas projects in their area, although some sites were not viable because of their small size.
Wimpey decided to sell its shareholding because it wanted to concentrate on its core operations in housing and construction, said Mr Devaney.
Wimpey-EPC generates electricity from Dunsink and Ballealy in north Co Dublin, Ballyogan, south Co Dublin, Friarstown, in west Dublin and the Tramore valley in Co Cork.
