The ESB has reacted to yesterday's State decision not to award it a contract to supply electricity from an offshore wind project in Dundalk Bay, saying it "remains committed" to delivery of the Oriel Wind Farm.
The 375 megawatt farm - a joint venture with energy company Parkwind - was unsuccessful in the auction for power contracts.
In a statement, the ESB said that "while the Oriel project was not awarded a contract in this auction round, Parkwind and ESB believe that it is a well-positioned project and will ultimately play its part in generating the renewable electricity we need.
"We will continue to progress the project and are actively investigating alternative routes to market," the statement added.
Four bidders were successful yesterday when EirGrid announced the outcome.
They 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.
Further down the east coast, Codling Wind Park, which stretches 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.
The Sceirde Rocks wind farm project off the coast of Galway - owned by Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta - was allocated 450MW.
All the offers are provisional and will be formally confirmed next month.
The Minister for the Environment said the value of offshore wind capacity for the next 20 years gives Ireland "real strength".
Eamon Ryan said the generation of electricity offshore is significant as it can provide about one third of the country's power.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today With Dearbhail McDonald, Mr Ryan said there will be "a second auction later this year and we will go on the same next year.
"As we head into southern and western waters the scale of our opportunity is beyond compare.
"To firstly meet our own needs and that lower cost is important so it's affordable to Irish consumers, but then also that we can use that power to create new industries and new jobs and exports and the excess power we will have," the minister added.
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He said the Government is listening to concerns from communities regarding the development of offshore wind farms, adding that there will be a €25 million community benefit fund annually to support them.
"For the Irish market, where we are paying high electricity prices because of our reliance on fossil fuels. This is significant as it takes us away from it," Mr Ryan said.
"It gives us the potential to have an alternative supply, so we are not at the behest of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin or any other distant regime in terms of what our energy security and future and price is."
He warned against comparison with European counterparts with offshore renewables but said two thirds of the price is fixed so even if there is high inflation the price remains steady.
Mr Ryan said that offshore renewables will start coming into the market at the end of 2026 with each project having a "slightly different" timeline.
"It will then have a significant impact in helping to phase us away from that large reliance on gas. It will bring down the prices of electricity."
The minister added that in the interim the Government is "keeping pressure" on companies so everything can be done to try and reduce the price of energy as he acknowledged the high cost for consumers.
