Ikea arm confirms major investment in Irish offshore wind energy projects

The investment arm of the world’s largest Ikea franchisee, Ingka, has confirmed that it has invested in a portfolio of large-scale offshore wind farm development projects around Ireland and the UK that are controlled by Irish firm Source Galileo.

The Irish Independent exclusively revealed the planned tie-up between the companies on Monday.

Ingka Investments has taken a 20pc stake in the offshore wind project portfolio of Source Galileo, which is developing 10GW of offshore wind to electricity and hydrogen production off the north-western coasts of Europe.

The schemes will cost billions of euro to fully develop. Ingka Investments will initially help bankroll millions of euros of development costs as the projects reach a stage where a final investment decision is made.

Ingka has already teamed up with Source Galileo as part of a consortium to help develop a major floating wind farm in Norway. That UtsiraVIND consortium also includes Norwegian offshore wind technology firm Odfjell Oceanwind, and one of Japan’s largest utilities, Kansai. The consortium is hoping to build and operate a floating wind farm in the North Sea that will ultimately generate up to 1.5GW of power.

Frederik de Jong, head of renewable energy at Ingka Investments, said the partnership with Source Galileo is a further step in addressing climate footprint reduction “well beyond our retail consumption and into the Ikea value chain”.

The investment by Ingka Investments comes despite significant challenges facing companies hoping to develop Ireland’s offshore wind energy potential due to delays in the planning process combined with other issues.

Source Galileo is a joint venture between Source Energie and Galileo Green Energy, a renewables firm backed by Australia’s HRL Morrison, an alternative asset manager with more than $18bn under management.

Source Energie was co-founded by its executive team including chief executive Kevin Lynch, who previously worked with John Mullins’ Amarenco; Fintan Whelan, a co-founder of Mainstream and its former chief financial officer who is now CFO at Source Galileo; and Torben Andersen, a former executive director at Mainstream who also worked for Airtricity.

Source Galileo is developing five major offshore wind farms around Ireland. It’s developing three wind farms around the UK coast. In total, the five Irish wind farms have the potential to generate almost 5GW of electricity.

“The significance of the investment from Ingka is transformational for offshore wind in Britain and Ireland,” said Mr Lynch on Tuesday as Ingka confirmed the deal with Source Galileo.

“The UK has committed to deploy 50GW of offshore wind by 2030, up from 14GW now,” he pointed out. “Ireland too is expected to develop at least 20GW of offshore wind by 2040, starting from pilot projects today, as a contribution to meet Europe’s climate goals. The commitment from Ingka Investments, in partnership with Source Galileo, to help deliver on these targets is enormous.”

Gina Cassidy, the chief operating officer of Source Galileo, said that the wind energy projects would bring economic benefits to local communities.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with government bodies in Ireland and the UK to expedite national policies and supply chains to allow the industry to reach its full potential,” she added.

Reporting on: www.independent.ie