Eirgrid has announced the successful bidders in the country's first ever auction to generate electricity from offshore wind.
The successful projects include the Dublin Array situated in the Kish and Bray banks in the Irish Sea. This project is backed by German energy company RWE and its Irish partner Saorgus Energy.
It has been allocated 824MW (mega watts).
Further down the east coast, Codling Wind Park, which stretches along the coast from Greystones to Wicklow, was also successful. This project is owned by a consortium of French energy company EDF and Norwegian energy company Fred Olsen. This is the biggest project at 1,300MW.
Meanwhile, on the north Dublin coast, off Skerries, Norwegian energy company Statkraft has been awarded 500MW in a project called the North Irish Sea Array.
And the Sceirde Rocks wind farm project off the coast of Galway is owned by Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta and was awarded 450MW.
All the offers are provisional and will be formally confirmed next month.
The average price struck at auction was just over €86 per megawatt hour.
This is less than the maximum €150 per megawatt hour allowed for in the auction and it is also less than the average current price of wholesale electricity which is around €120 per megawatt hour.
The contract also contains a €24m annual community benefit fund.
All the successful bidders must now go through the planning process.
There were also two unsuccessful bidders in the process - ESB and Parkwind's Oriel windfarm in Dundalk Bay and SSE Renewables' project off the Arklow coast.
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan said today's provisional results of the auction are not just a hugely positive story for Irish energy consumers, but for Ireland as a whole.
"The results are further evidence of what many of us have known for a long time; that we, as a nation, can develop and produce enormous quantities of clean energy - securely and at low cost," Mr Ryan said.
Read more:
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Statkraft and its offshore partners Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) today welcomed the provisional results from the State's first offshore wind auction in which they secured 500 MW for their North Irish Sea Array project.
The company's project, which is earmarked for an area off the coast of counties Dublin, Louth, and Meath, will have the capacity to power about half a million Irish homes and businesses.
Donal O'Sullivan, VP for Development and Offshore with Statkraft Ireland, said today's news is a signal that Ireland is well on its way to a future powered by clean, renewable energy.
"Ireland's maritime area is ideal for large-scale offshore wind energy production. The time has come to start harnessing that power to futureproof Ireland's energy supply and help tackle a changing climate," Mr O'Sullivan said.
"As we progress to the planning stages of the project, we will continue to work with local stakeholders such as residents, businesses, and the fishing community, as well as An Bord Pleanála," he added.
Codling Wind Park Co-Project Directors Scott Sutherland and Thomas Gellert said today is "a great day in the fight against climate change, and for Ireland's plans to become energy self-sufficient".
"With Codling Wind Park’s successful bid, Ireland’s largest Phase 1 offshore project of 1,300MW capacity, moves a considerable step closer to reality.
"Today's successful auction results will increase confidence in Ireland’s ability to realise the opportunities of offshore energy," they added.
SSE Renewables, the company behind a wind park off the coast of Arklow which was not a successful bidder in today's auction, has said it remains committed to the project.
In a statement, the company’s managing director Stephen Wheeler said: "While we are disappointed with the auction result, Arklow Bank Wind Park II is an important project in our offshore pipeline, and we remain committed to its delivery.
"We will now take time to assess the outcome of this result and the options available to us to secure a route to market for this project."
The ESB, which was one of the backers of another proposed wind farm in Dundalk Bay, was also unsuccessful in today’s auction. The company would not comment on the decision.
