Renewables powerhouse Statkraft to start work on its first wind farm in Ireland

• The 23.1 megawatt Kilathmoy wind farm will be situated on the border between the counties of Limerick and Kerry.
• Construction work on the facility will begin in November and it is set to be fully commissioned towards the end of 2019.

This image shows wind turbines at Airtricity, Richfield Wind Farm at Kilmore, County Wexford. 

Tim Graham | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Norwegian renewable energy company Statkraft has announced plans to start building its first wind farm in the Republic of Ireland.

The 23.1 megawatt Kilathmoy wind farm will be situated on the border between the counties of Limerick and Kerry, the company said in a statement at the end of last week.

Construction work on the facility will begin in November and it is set to be fully commissioned towards the end of 2019, the Oslo-based business said. Statkraft's total investment in Kilathmoy is set to be 31.5 million euros ($35.91 million).

Owned by the Norwegian state, Statkraft employs 3,500 people and produced 63 terawatt hours of power in 2017.

Statkraft Ireland's head of development, Kevin O'Donovan, said that the business saw Ireland as a "key market given its significant renewable energy resources."

At the start of October, Statkraft announced it had bought the Irish and U.K. wind development businesses of the Element Power Group. Statkraft said that the deal gave it a "large onshore wind development pipeline in Ireland."

Wind energy is the largest and cheapest renewable electricity source in Ireland, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The SEAI adds that wind was responsible for 20.9 percent of Ireland's total electricity demand in 2016.