Greencoat Renewables, a renewable infrastructure fund, has completed its acquisition of a 50% stake in the 80.5MWp South Meath Solar Farm from Statkraft.
The remaining 50% has been acquired in partnership with investment manager Schroders Greencoat, which owns and operates solar assets in the UK. When the deal was initially made in 2022, the development was Greencoat’s first solar acquisition in Ireland.
The South Meath Solar Farm, in County Meath, Ireland, reached commercial operation at the end of 2023. The project was developed, funded and built by Statkraft, which took it on from Lightsource BP.
A long term power purchase agreement (PPA) relating to 100% of production from the solar array has been signed by a technology company, which Greencoat has said underpins the “critical role” that renewables play in powering the global acceleration of the technology sector.
Paul O’Donnell, partner at Schroders Greencoat, said: “Having entered into a forward sale agreement in July 2022, we are pleased to further diversify our portfolio through the completion of the acquisition of the South Meath solar farm from Statkraft, a key strategic partner.
“As the largest operator of wind assets in Ireland, we remain focused on delivering PPAs with large, highly reputable counterparties. As such, we are delighted to have signed a long-term agreement with one of the world’s leading technology companies as part of this transaction.”
Interest in Ireland as a future tech hub is a critical component of foreign and private investment in the country and renewable sources must meet the resulting high energy demand.
The “world leading” company remains unnamed, but, as of April, Ireland hosts 82 data centres with 14 more under construction and planning approved for a further 40; as of last year, data centres took a larger share of the country’s total electricity usage than urban or rural dwellings.
According to data from the Central Statistics Office for Ireland, in 2015, data centres used 5% of metered electricity, rising to 18% in 2022 and 21% in 2023.
Since 2021, Ireland’s Climate Action Plan has included a target to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable energy sources to 80% by 2030. In June of this year, renewables accounted for a third of the Republic of Ireland’s electricity, with grid-scale solar contributing 4.4% of electricity demand.
Storage is also set to play a role in managing the added stress of meeting data centre electricity demand, with GridBeyond announcing that it would provide battery energy storage systems (BESS) for two Irish data centres in June.
