State-owned Bord na Móna earned €31.9 million profit in the 12 months to the end of March, which the company says was its “first financial year” as a green energy supplier.
Originally established to exploit the Republic’s peat bogs, Bord na Móna was forced to find new businesses in recent years as that activity ended.
The company said on Friday it invested €111 million over the 12-month period, its financial year, in renewable energy projects, €95 million in assets it owned itself and €16 million on joint ventures.
Bord na Móna also made progress on a €1 billion joint venture with SSE Renewables, part of the group that owns Airtricity, through which the pair plan to build wind farms capable of generating 800 mega watts of electricity.
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The State-owned company said that its operations earned €31.9 million profits during the 12-month period.
The surplus was less than a third of the record €106.7 million operating profit reported for the 12 months ended 2024.
However, 2024’s profits were partly due to it entering the joint venture with SSE Renewables and from its sale of a 50 per cent stake in Co Limerick-based Electricity Exchange DAC.
During its last financial year, Bord na Móna built power plants with total capacity to generate up to 260 mega watts of electricity, the company said.
Those projects included the Derrinlough Wind Farm, Co Offaly, its first solar power plant at Timahoe North, Co Kildare, which it developed jointly with fellow State company, the ESB, and a battery storage facility at Cloncreen, also in Co Offaly.
The company said on Friday it had 1,000 mega watts of renewable electricity with plans for a further 5,000.
“More than €50 million has been invested in grid development by Bord na Móna over the last five years to enable this volume and pace of growth,” a statement added.
During the year the company restored 2,778 hectares of peatlands. This activity is central to Bord na Móna‘s “long-term environmental stewardship”, said the company.
To date it has restored 20,000 hectares of peatlands.
Tom Donnellan, chief executive, dubbed its last financial year as “significant” for the company, as it fully transformed into a green energy business.
He added that the firm has continued to perform well, successfully completing five new projects.
Mr Donnellan noted that the company had planning permission for 300 mega watts of new onshore wind while it is working on 20 further renewable projects, totalling 3,000 mega watts.
He said the company remained focused on delivering infrastructure that would aid the State in meeting climate targets.
The Government wants 80 per cent of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030, a target that many in the industry say will be missed as planning delays continue to hinder new development.
Meanwhile Bord na Móna said that it cut its own greenhouse gas emissions by 38 per cent during its last financial year.
The company paid Mr Donnellan €333,000 during the financial year, including basic salary of €225,000, pension contributions of €56,000 and taxable benefits of €52,000.
