Engineering and consultancy firm AFRY has been appointed as technical partner for a solar project under development by IPP Neoen in Ireland.
The Ballinknockane solar project is a 79 MWp solar PV power plant under development in County Limerick, Ireland. The project was awarded a Contract for Difference (CfD) under Ireland’s RESS 2 auction in 2022, and once completed it will be the first utility-scale solar farm in County Limerick, and the first transmission-connected project of Neoen in Ireland.
AFRY has now been appointed to provide owner engineering services for the project, including providing project management support, design review and monitoring of the construction and commissioning phases of the development. The Ballinknockane project, which started construction last month, is expected to be energized in mid-2026 and fully commissioned in the first half of 2027.
“We are pleased to have chosen AFRY as our Owner’s Engineer for the construction of the Ballinknockane solar farm in Ireland. We are confident that their support will be key to the successful delivery of this ambitious project,” said Cyril Perrin, Managing Director of Neoen Ireland.
Carlos Perez Galvan, head of wind and solar in Ireland and Britain at AFRY, echoed this sentiment, adding: “We are proud to be contributing to the future of clean energy in Ireland, and this partnership marks an important step forward”.
Neoen is a French independent power producer (IPP) with a portfolio of 8.4 GW of solar, wind and battery energy storage systems (BESS) in operation or under construction in 15 countries, including a solar portfolio of 4.052 GW. In Ireland alone, Neoen has a portfolio of 190 MW, including three solar parks with a combined capacity of 58 MWp.
Neoen saw great success at this year’s RESS 4 auction, cementing the company’s growth in the Emerald Isle. Neoen has successfully secured 170 MWp of solar projects within RESS 4 across two developments: the Johnstown North Solar project, a 29 MWp development in County Wicklow, and Garr Solar, a 141 MWp project in County Offaly. These two projects are expected to be commissioned in 2027 and 2028 respectively. A total of 960 MW of solar PV was purchased at the RESS 4 auction, as well as 374 MW of onshore wind energy.
In June, AFRY senior director John Perkins spoke with our sister publication Energy storage.news on how the growing UK BESS fleet can help reduce market risk for CfD projects by reducing negative prices, which he called “a big risk” for generators. Perkins explained: “CfD wind receives a fixed income per megawatt hour, but is exposed to market risk due to the imbalance costs. Greater use of storage, and therefore a smoothing of imbalance prices, is an advantage for CfD generators. It helps reduce costs associated with forecasting errors and balancing.”
