ESB, Orsted win 900MW Irish offshore auction

The ESB and Orsted partnership has won the 900MW Tonn Nua offshore wind auction in Ireland.
The Dublin-headquartered utility and Danish giant have secured the site off County Waterford with a €98.72 per megawatt-hour bid.
The Irish-Danish alliance has beaten off competition from several other bidders to land the 20-year CfD, it is understood.
EDF and Bord Gais Energy formed a partnership for the auction as did RWE and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, as revealed in recent subscriber-only editions of reNEWS.
Irish energy department DECC said the result of the auction, the state’s second following the ORESS 1 round in 2023, was “hugely competitive” and had “surpassed expectations”.
It said the price is favourable compared to the average wholesale price of electricity in Ireland in 2025, which is €114/MWh.
The Tonn Nua grid connection is due to go live in 2033. Orsted said a final investment decision is expected around 2031 and first power in the mid-2030s.
The Danish player’s head of Europe development Alana Kühne said: “We commend the Irish government for running a successful auction continuing the support for the development of offshore wind in Ireland.
“Offshore wind will play an important part in the future Irish energy system ensuring green, affordable and secure energy. We will continue to work with our joint venture partner ESB to carefully assess and progress this early-stage development opportunity, including ensuring that the project lives up to our value creation criteria.”
ESB generation and trading executive director Jim Dollard added: “ESB is delighted with the outcome of the ORESS Tonn Nua auction. It secures a clear pathway for the development of a significant project off the coast of County Waterford marking another important step toward Ireland’s renewable energy and Net Zero ambitions.
“We look forward to working with our partners to deliver a project that provides significant energy security and price certainty for Irish consumers.”
Energy Minister Darragh O’Brien said the result is an important milestone in the State’s offshore renewable energy ambitions.
“The highly competitive price secured represents positive news for Irish energy consumers and our nation, bringing us closer to overcoming the challenges of energy security and affordability, and towards achieving energy independence.”
He added: “It’s also a positive reflection of Ireland that we, as a country, can develop and produce enormous quantities of clean energy. It’s a clear sign that international companies are confident in Ireland’s ambition and infrastructure.
“Ireland has enormous offshore wind potential – not only to deliver cleaner and more secure energy to our homes and businesses, it has the potential to deliver tens of thousands of new green jobs for many communities across the State. The deployment of offshore renewable energy will also importantly ensure that Ireland continues to play our part in addressing the climate change emergency.”
The result is provisional until the final result is confirmed on 9 December.
Tonn Nua is one of four maritime sites within the SC-DMAP zone off the south coast identified for future offshore wind development.
The Government said it will now move towards making arrangements to bring the remaining three SC-DMAP sites to market.