By Business & Finance 
Dublin is to host the European Renewable Energy Finance Forum (REFF) for the first time – generating a €600,000 windfall for the local economy with close to 400 senior delegates arriving into the capital – following a campaign from the Green International Financial Services Centre (GIFSC) and BNRG Renewables.
The conference is being hailed as a major opportunity for companies in Ireland’s renewable sector to win investment and create jobs as those attending the conference have some $65bn earmarked for deployment this year alone.
A recent report unveiled by the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA), ‘The Value of Wind Energy to Ireland’, highlights that by installing enough wind to meet the Republic of Ireland’s 2020 targets and developing sufficient wind to meet domestic energy demand between 2020 and 2030, the wind energy sector would deliver €8.3bn of investment into the Irish economy and support 22,510 jobs. The IWEA estimates that its members will require close to €5bn in the coming years for domestic projects.
Minister for Energy, Pat Rabbitte TD, said: “The Irish Government has indicated that the green economy is a core area of focus for economic recovery and employment creation. Attracting such a major European event to Ireland in favour of other countries shows how Ireland is now recognized as a centre of excellence for renewable energy investment and financing.
“This success is in no small part to the Green International Financial Services Centre which has been tasked with the positioning and promotion of Ireland as a leading centre for sustainable finance and with growing ‘green’ assets from $20 billion to $200bn by 2017. It is fitting that this conference is coming to Dublin following a year when Irish asset managers attracted or deployed some €3bn in assets.”
Dublin secured the conference, which takes places over September 23rd and 24th, after event organisers Euromoney considered a shortlist of London, Frankfurt and Dublin. This will will be the first time Europe’s largest renewable energy finance and investment event has taken place outside London in more than 15 years.
Dublin Castle is the venue for the two-day conference which will unite investors with project developers and senior executives from across the renewable energy and technology sectors this autumn. The majority of delegates are executive level and decision makers in the renewable energy, asset management and investment communities and speakers are industry leaders from around the globe but with a particular interest in renewable energy finance and asset management in Europe.
In their second year as Silver Sponsors to the event, BNRG’s director David Maguire stated: “We are delighted to be associated, once again, with the leading renewable energy finance event in Europe. This is great news for Ireland and a great opportunity to have close to 400 key decision makers from the global industry right here in Dublin.
“BNRG, a regular contributor to the event over the years, has been working on attracting REFF to move to Dublin since September 2013 and thanks to the assistance of the GIFSC, Ireland has finanlly secured this event.”
