Airtricity founder outlines plan to take renewables into mainstream

What do you do once you've built one hugely successful renewable energy company? Go out and build another one.

That certainly seems to be the view of Eddie O'Connor, founder and former chief executive of wind farm operator Airtricity, who yesterday detailed how he plans to turn his new alternative energy venture, Mainstream Renewable Power, into a major player in the booming global renewables market.

Dr O'Connor said he had invested €30m (£24m) in the new company – which he founded in February this year following the $1.4bn (£716m) sale of Airtricity's North American arm to E.ON and the €1.1bn sale of the remainder of the business to Scottish and Southern Energy – and was now seeking to raise a further €200m (£159m) to fund its expansion plan.

Under the plan, the company intends to develop, construct and operate up to 200MW of renewable energy capacity by 2010 from sites across Europe, the US, South America and Australia. It is expected to focus on wind energy, solar thermal and ocean current projects and claims to have already identified a number of potential partners in its key markets.

The company said it also planned to compete in the upcoming round of UK offshore wind farm licensing and recently invested €1m (£795,000) in Dutch offshore turbine producer 2-B with a view to lowering the cost of offshore turbines.

Dr O'Connor said the aim of the new company was to create a "highly profitable business where renewable energy becomes the mainstream source of electricity on a global scale". He added that the focus would be on delivering large commercial-scale renewable energy plants "that are based on gigawatts, not megawatts".

The company currently employs 35 staff, including a number of former Airtricity executives, and plans to double its headcount by 2009 as it seeks to begin executing its expansion plan.