Statkraft unveils ambitious plans for 2030

Since Norwegian-owned energy giant Statkraft entered the Irish market in 2018, it has had a steady flow of renewables projects in construction. But last month, the company announced ambitious new plans to build 3GW of renewables by 2030, including the delivery of the 500MW North Sea Array (NISA) offshore wind project off Dublin, Louth, and Meath, with the capacity to power around half a million Irish homes and businesses.

For Donal O’Sullivan, Statkraft Ireland’s VP for development and offshore, the roadmap to 3GW is already in motion with several projects either completed, under construction, or with a signed route to market.

“At the moment there are seven projects under construction. What’s really exciting around the 3GW target is that over 1.5GW of that target is either in construction or has a signed contract to buy the power that it generates either with the corporate sector or by government auction,” said O’Sullivan.

“In 2024, we’ve six projects that we’re hoping to take investment decisions on; these include two onshore wind developments, two solar farms, and two grid services. That will keep the run rate of six to seven projects in construction going for another two to three years – it means a lot of activity for us from a construction point of view.”

Reaching its 3GW target would not only solidify Statkraft’s position as one of Ireland’s top green energy leaders but would make a significant contribution to the state’s target of generating 80 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030, said O’Sullivan.

“I’ve been working in renewables in Ireland since 2007 and I’ve never seen such a demand or acknowledgment from government for the need for what we are doing. That acknowledgement has extended to the general public too. I think there’s an awareness now of not just the climate crisis, but Ireland’s energy security.

“We’re still in a fairly precarious position whereby 50 per cent of our electricity comes from gas, and we own limited amounts ourselves, so we import the vast majority of the gas that we burn. But we’ve come a long way – we’ve over 4GW of onshore wind on the system but where the world and targets have gone, we’ve so much more to do.”

I think there’s an awareness now of not just the climate crisis, but Ireland’s energy security

And more is exactly what Statkraft plans to deliver. In addition to the new offshore wind project, and projects in construction, Statkraft has an additional 330MW with signed route to market through the government’s Renewable Electricity Supply Scheme (RESS) or via Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA). The company also has 400MW of wind and solar projects that have full planning permission, with route to market planned for this year or next. Furthermore, Statkraft has several grid services projects that have been granted planning permission. A route to market will be sought for these projects this year.

In addition, the Irish arm of the Norwegian state-owned renewables company, which operates in 21 countries, has plans for over 375MW of wind and solar projects, which have been submitted to An Bord Pleanála and are now awaiting a decision, while sufficient land has been secured to allow for a pipeline of projects totalling between 200MW and 250MW to be submitted for planning permission every year for the next four years.

“Since Statkraft came in and bought the Element Power Group six years ago, we’ve had a steady stream of projects in construction,” said O’Sullivan. “Our 2030 target means we’d hope to have a minimum of three to four projects in construction at any one time between now and then, across all our technologies including onshore wind, offshore wind, solar and grid services. Developing renewables projects in Ireland takes significant hard work and patience and the development pipelines across the technologies have been created by an incredible team that we have in Statkraft.

“For us, we really believe in what we’re doing, and we’ve people working for us who are passionate about the sector we’re in. Each megawatt that we’re delivering means less expensive imported fossil fuels that Ireland has to pay for. Overall, if we can do these 3GW, we hope that between 20-30 per cent of the government’s targets would be coming from Statkraft, which is a big motivating factor for us when we’re in the midst of a climate crisis.”