Operations to stay and grow in Cork with projects across Ireland, UK and Europe
09:34, 03 Feb 2026Updated 10:00, 03 Feb 2026
Wind turbine photo (stock)
Cork’s growing status as a global hub for renewable energy – for finance, innovation and manufacture – looks secure as a huge deal will see a new name on Leeside.
Danish giants Orsted have confirmed they will be selling their European onshore business to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) for €1.44 billion. It’s a massive deal that includes Orsted’s portfolio of operational onshore wind farms and ongoing construction projects across the island of Ireland.
The European business is HQ’d in Cork and it builds and operates wind, solar and energy storage projects in Ireland, the UK, Germany and Spain. This new Cork business will be a standalone company under a new name and brand. And current jobs and investment will not be affected.
In fact, new owners CIP are believed to be preparing an ambitious growth plan for the new Cork operation, building on the long-established business in Ireland with assets that currently power more than 250,000 homes with renewable electricity. Across the EU, 46% of energy generated in 2024 came from renewable sources and that figure is expected to climb damatically in the next few years. The new owners are set to move into solar in a significant way in Ireland with Cork being at the centre of that development.
Cork has become a global hub for renewable energy, with companies like Buttevent-based DP Energy developing huge projects in countries as far away as Australia and Canada.
In 2024, Cork and Kerry windfarms provided almost one-third of Ireland’s energy needs and the potential for solar is even bigger. In off-shore wind, one major study said the South Coast, from Waterford to Kinsale, could be producing as much offshore wind energy as the UK, France and Germany by 2030.
Orsted has been changing its business to diversify and consolidate and this deal is part of that process.
The company said: “The transaction also contributes to delivering on Orsted’s strategic priority of refocusing on offshore wind in its core European markets, where a significant amount of capacity is expected to be tendered in the coming years,” it said.
“With CIP as our new owner, we look forward to accelerating growth across our development pipeline, thereby strengthening our role in Europe’s onshore wind, solar, and battery markets,” Kieran White, Senior Vice President of Europe Onshore at Orsted, said.
“In the coming months, we’ll announce a new company name and brand. What will not change is our people, assets, projects, or ambition to deliver renewable energy at scale across Europe,” he added.
TJ Hunter, Vice President for Onshore in the UK and Ireland at Orsted, said that across the island of Ireland, its onshore business has grown from a farmer-led co-operative into a company now powering over 250,000 households with renewable electricity.
“Cork will remain our European onshore headquarters, and, with CIP as our new owner, we’re looking forward to opening new wind farms, repowering parts of our existing fleet, delivering our first Irish solar developments, and accelerating the supply of more secure, home-grown, and cost-competitive green electricity to Irish energy consumers,” he added.