Wednesday 17 September 2014

Irish energy firm buys $525m Ghana wind farm

A Dublin-based renewable energy company has bought a $525 million (£322m) wind farm project in Ghana.

Mainstream Renewable Power said it struck a deal for the planned 225MW Ayitepa project with Switzerland’s NEK Umwelttechnik.

It is expected to be the largest utility-scale wind farm in Ghana and produce around 10% of the nation’s electricity generation capacity.

The two companies will develop the site together until the project’s financial close expected next year.

Eddie O’Connor, Mainstream’s Chief Executive said: “This wind farm is the ideal solution for Ghana because the country needs large quantities of electricity and it needs it fast. Wind and solar power are the only proven technologies in the world today which can achieve the dual objectives of speed of deployment and scale.”

The wind farm is scheduled to start operation in early 2016.