Inside Elgin's 200 MW Blackhall Deal and the Auction That Prices It

Elgin Energy has bought a 198.9 MWp solar project in County Meath from the German developer GP JOULE. The purchase price was not disclosed. The figure that was disclosed is 200 million euros, and it is not what Elgin paid. It is what Elgin expects to spend next, on a project whose revenue still depends on an auction that has not been held.

Key takeaways

• Elgin Energy, backed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, has acquired the 198.9 MWp Blackhall solar project in County Meath, Ireland, from GP JOULE. Terms were not disclosed, and KPMG advised GP JOULE.
• Elgin expects to invest about 200 million euros, or $227.77 million, in the development and construction of Blackhall, which is $1.15 million per MW of planned capacity. That figure is forward capital expenditure, not a purchase price.
• Meath County Council granted conditional planning permission in August 2024, and An Bord Pleanala granted permission in March 2025 after appeals by third parties and by GP Joule Ireland Limited. The permission allows a 10-year construction period and a 40-year operating period.
• Blackhall has no power contract. It is planned to bid into Ireland's next Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auction, first operation is targeted for 2030, and expected output is about 193.4 GWh a year across 205.15 hectares of land in three separate parcels.
• At 198.9 MWp, Blackhall is the largest single Irish solar project to change hands in Enerdatics' records since the start of 2024. Enerdatics records nine Irish solar transactions in that period, three of which carry a disclosed value.

What did Elgin Energy actually buy?

A permitted land position, and something scarcer in Ireland than permission: a settled route onto the transmission network. Blackhall comes with separately approved grid infrastructure, comprising a 220 kV loop-in substation, battery storage, overhead-line works and an underground connection running from that substation to the project and to the existing Maynooth to Gorman transmission line.

A loop-in substation is one spliced directly into an existing high-voltage line, so the project connects where the capacity already runs rather than paying for kilometres of dedicated cable to reach a distant node. In a market where grid connection offers are the binding constraint on build-out, that consent is a large part of what a buyer is paying for.

GP JOULE did the work that creates it. The German developer took Blackhall from early development through planning, absorbed an appeal process that ran from August 2024 to March 2025, and sold at the point where the remaining risk shifts from consenting to construction and revenue. Elgin takes it from there.

Why does the 200 million euro figure get quoted instead of the price?

Because nobody disclosed the price, and the spend is the only large number anyone put on the record. The two are different in kind. A purchase price is what changed hands for a consented project. The 200 million euros is Elgin's own forward estimate of what developing and building that project will cost, spread across the years to 2030.

Measured against planned capacity, that estimate is $1.15 million per MW. Set it beside what finished Irish solar has actually traded for and the comparison is uncomfortable rather than reassuring. Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust paid $30.98 million for the 32.6 MW Irishtown project in June 2025, a ready-to-build asset with a long-term corporate offtake behind it, at $0.95 million per MW. In December 2025 a 272 MW operational Irish portfolio built by ib vogt, Highfield Energy and Aura Power went to Nuveen Infrastructure and an institutional co-investor at an enterprise value of $270.55 million, or $1.00 million per MW.

Both prints sit below Blackhall's cost per MW to build. Read that directionally. An enterprise value includes net debt, the 272 MW portfolio sold with Renewable Electricity Support Scheme contracts attached and only months of operating history, and Elgin's 200 million euros covers development as well as construction. Still, the ordering matters. A developer spending more per megawatt than the finished product has recently fetched needs the revenue side to improve, and in Ireland the revenue side is an auction.

What decides whether Blackhall gets built?

The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme, which Ireland runs as a competitive auction awarding successful projects a fixed reference price for their output over a set term. The second round awarded solar projects an average reference price of 97.87 euros per MWh, about $115.12, under 15-year contracts, and that cohort now underpins a large share of operating Irish solar. Blackhall is planned for the next round.

Without a contract the project faces the Irish wholesale market or a corporate buyer, neither of which supports a 200 million euro build at this stage. That is the same calculation a buyer made in the United States recently when 715 MW of late-stage solar changed hands without a power contract, on the view that offtake can be arranged later and consent cannot.

The permission itself gives Elgin room to wait. Ten years of construction consent against a 2030 target means the project can sit through more than one auction round if the first bid misses. That optionality is why Irish developers value a permitted site with grid access even when the economics of the current round look thin.

Enerdatics records nine Irish solar transactions since the start of 2024, and only three disclose a value, so the market has very little visible pricing to work from. The two that do are $0.95 million per MW for a ready-to-build project with offtake and $1.00 million per MW for an operating portfolio. Neither describes a 198.9 MWp late-stage project with no contract, which is precisely why the announcement leads with a spending figure.

What does the deal signal for Irish solar?

Ownership is moving to funds while developers exit at the end of consenting. The L&G NTR Clean Power Fund alone accounts for three of the nine Irish solar transactions Enerdatics records since the start of 2024, including its purchase of the 105 MW Ballydonagh solar project from RES, another permitted Irish project sold before construction. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners now has the same exposure through Elgin. Sellers in the set are repeatedly developers: GP JOULE, RES, Statkraft, Strategic Power Projects.

The second signal is scale. Irish solar has been a market of 30 MW to 115 MW projects, and a single 198.9 MWp site is a step change in what one transaction can carry. Irish renewables deals are also small enough that platform arithmetic can mislead, as Lirion Power's recent Irish wind purchase showed when 242 MW of acquisitions added up to a 200 MW platform. Blackhall needs no such adjustment. It is one project, one consent, one grid connection, and one auction between it and a price.

Frequently asked questions

What did Elgin Energy pay for the Blackhall solar project?The consideration was not disclosed. Enerdatics records the deal value as undisclosed. The 200 million euro figure in the announcement, about $227.77 million, is Elgin's expected development and construction spend, not the purchase price.

How large is Blackhall compared with other Irish solar deals?At 198.9 MWp it is the largest single Irish solar project to change hands in Enerdatics' records since the start of 2024. Larger transactions in that period are portfolios of several projects rather than one site.

What is the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme?It is Ireland's competitive auction for renewable generation, awarding successful projects a fixed reference price for their output. Solar projects in the second round were awarded an average reference price of 97.87 euros per MWh, about $115.12, under 15-year contracts.

Enerdatics tracks every renewable energy transaction in Ireland and across Europe, with disclosed values, capacity, development stage and route to market on each record. Explore the Enerdatics Insights page for the latest M&A, financings and PPAs.