The property group, Treasury Holdings, will today announce a major joint venture in developing wind energy with the Belfast-based shipbuilders, Harland & Wolff. The two groups will announce a number of wind energy projects in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
Treasury is already a significant player in the wind energy market. It has set up a subsidiary, Wind Generation, and owns large wind farms in Spain and Italy. It has two smaller ones in Co Donegal and Arigna, Co Roscommon, and is planning two more in Co Cork.
The venture will boost Treasury's plans to become a major player in the electricity market here when it opens up to competition in February. The joint venture will be announced by the Minister of the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Michael Woods, and presented as a significant cross-Border business initiative.
Treasury has already indicated that it will spend more than £50 million (€63.48 million) in setting up its own electricity division, which will develop a series of combined heat and power (CHP) plants and wind farms. Treasury is to build a 20-megawatt CHP plant at a cost of £17 million on its Spencer Dock site in Dublin's Docklands to power the National Conference Centre. It intends to sell the power which is not required by the centre to other companies and will consider increasing the plant's capacity in future years. CHP plants operate by combusting natural gas and air to simultaneously generate electricity and heat.
