Coriolis Energy, ESB to Develop UK Wind Farms

Coriolis Energy and Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) have agreed to jointly develop nine onshore wind farms across Britain capable of generating enough electricity to power 225,000 homes, they said on Tuesday.

The nine projects would have a combined capacity of around 400 megawatts (MW), with the first expected to be in operation in 2019, they said.

The majority of the wind farms will be in built in Scotland but opportunities for new wind farm developments would be pursued throughout the United Kingdom, they said.

The nine projects are expected to cost up to 600 million pounds ($918 million).

Liam Murphy, project manager of the partnership, said the majority of funding for the projects would come from ESB.

He said ESB was not deterred from investing in onshore wind in the UK despite a pledge by Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party to end government subsidies for the technology if it wins a national election next week.

"The electricity sector will have to decarbonise by 2030 regardless of who is in government and onshore wind will play a fundamental role in that," he said.

Britain has a legally binding target to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 to 80 percent below 1990 levels.

Murphy said ESB plans to increase its overall power generation capacity in Britain and Ireland to 7 gigawatts (GW) by 2025, up from its current capacity of around 4.8 GW.

Around a quarter of its total capacity would also come from renewable sources by 2025, up from around 12 percent.

ESB operates transmission and distribution networks in Ireland and Northern Ireland and as well renewable and fossil fuel power plants.

Coriolis Energy is an independent onshore wind development business that has developed around 100 MW of wind power capacity in Britain.

Reporting by Susanna Twidale