Eddie O’Connor interview: ‘Airtricity and Mainstream were good, but that will pale into insignificance compared to Supernode’

The veteran eco-tycoon’s latest project, Supernode, is his most ambitious yet – to turn Ireland into the renewable energy powerhouse of Europe

Eddie O’Connor, co-founder and chairman of Mainstream Renewable Power: ‘Offshore is the place to be.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

Eddie O’Connor is sitting opposite me, talking expansively, occasionally tilting back his chair in the manner of a recalcitrant schoolboy.

He is going to be outspoken, and looks as if he is already relishing it as we begin our interview in the light-filled boardroom of a renovated Georgian building with its floor-to-ceiling window overlooking trees and greenery below.

At the start of this year, a deal to sell a majority stake of his Mainstream Renewable ...