Irish renewable energy firm Mainstream Renewable Power has agreed to enter a joint venture with South African wind farm developer Genesis Eco-Energy to begin developing additional farms in South Africa.

The two partners have said they expect to build 500 megawatts of wind energy in South Africa by 2014 at a cost of €850-million, according to a report on Reuters

In a statement, Mainstream said two projects - the 30MW Jeffrey's Bay wind farm near Port Elizabeth and a 40MW project at Colesberg – are at advanced stages and expected to be fully operational early in 2011

Currently there is less than 10MW of wind energy in operation in South Africa, however the Energy sector has been rapidly growing in interest in recent years.

Last year saw the launch of the country’s first commercial wind farm inDarling , in the Western Cape. Analysts have suggested, however, that there is scope for many more wind energy projects in the province.