Coriolis Energy and Ireland's Electricity Supply Board (ESB) have agreed to jointly develop nine onshore wind farms in the UK.

Wind turbine

The wind farms will have a combined capacity of about 400MW, with the first anticipated to be in operation by 2019.

The projects, which are expected to cost about £600m, will generate enough energy for about 225,000 households.

Majority of the wind farms will be constructed in Scotland but opportunities for new developments would be undertaken across the UK.

ESB chief executive Pat O’Doherty said: "This partnership gives us an opportunity to increase our presence and capability in onshore wind in the UK through high quality projects."

Coriolis Energy managing director David Murray said: "ESB’s scale, capabilities and desire to build a substantial onshore wind portfolio in the UK make them an ideal long term partner, both for us and our project landowners.

"We look forward to successfully completing the development of our existing project pipeline with them and using this as a platform for progressing further opportunities as the market continues to develop."

Coriolis Energy has to date developed about 100MW of wind power capacity in the UK.

The UK is the second biggest wind energy market in Europe after Germany. According to a recent data by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), Britain installed 1,736MW of capacity in 2014. The country also has a legally binding target to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 to 80% below 1990 levels, reports Reuters.

Image: Coriolis Energy and Ireland’s ESB will jointly develop nine onshore wind farms in the UK. Photo: Courtesy of pakorn/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.