Energy

ESB ramps up capital expenditure to €600m as renewables pipeline grows

The semi-state energy company’s Green Atlantic project will see the Co Clare plant become the centre point of its renewable strategy on the west coast

Jim Dollard, executive director generation and trading at ESB: ‘We want the Green Atlantic project to be the renewables cornerstone and the bulwark of our future.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

It’s almost 40 years since ESB first fired up the three coal generators at Moneypoint power station on the Shannon estuary in Co Clare. Having cost €1.2 billion to build and upgrade since it was commissioned in 1985, Moneypoint has been the backbone of the Irish energy system during its lifetime, providing over 20 per cent of the state’s power needs.

Yet its future was in significant doubt back in 2018 after the semi-state energy ...