Ørsted signs an agreement with Ireland’s leading utility, ESB, to jointly develop an offshore wind portfolio surrounding the green island, reads a press release on Friday.

”With the agreement, which marks the most ambitious partnership in Ireland to date, Ørsted becomes a 50/50 partner in a pipeline of offshore wind development projects off the Irish coast. The partnership has the potential to deliver up to five GW of renewable energy and complementary renewable hydrogen projects, and the first of these offshore wind projects are expected to compete in the next Irish offshore wind auction, ORESS 2.1,” Ørsted writes.

According to the Danish utility major, Ireland’s maritime area is more than ten times larger than the country’s landmass, making it ideally positioned to develop a vast offshore wind portfolio.

“With a strong Irish onshore portfolio already in place, we are delighted to begin our journey in the Irish offshore market with ESB; the company that brought electricity to Ireland, and that today plays a leading role in the path to net-zero,” says Duncan Clark, Senior Vice President and Head of UK and Ireland at Ørsted.

The Irish government aims to install 7GW of offshore wind capacity towards 2030, ultimately completing transition to net-zero.