Airtricity chief executive Eddie O'Connor confirmed that KKR had approached the firm in recent days.

"It shows the kind of business we are doing in America where wind power is appreciated, " he said.

The two firms plan to purchase US energy giant TXU in an unprecedented $44bn deal brokered by US environmental group, Environmental Defence. The Wall Street Journal recently dubbed this new partnership between environmentalists, utilities and corporate financiers 'the new greenmail'. In finance parlance, 'greenmail' is the premium price paid by a company buying back stock to defend against a hostile takeover attempt.

The Airtricity approach is believed to have been personally sanctioned by KKR co-founder Henry Kravis. He is said to be keen to retain the environmentalists' support as, under a provision of the takeover deal, TXU seeks rival bidders over the coming weeks.

It is likely that any potential rivals will attempt to court Environmental Defence, which secured a promise from the bidders to reduce the number of planned coal-fired power plants and carbon emissions from KKR and Texas Pacific.

It is also understood that KKR and Texas Pacific believe that, by increasing the amount of wind power TXU buys, they can reduce costs at the firm.

"When the wind blows, a utility can stop running its most expensive plant, which reduces the demand for fossil fuel, which reduces the price of fuel and reduces costs, " said O'Connor.

He said it was incredible that the Irish government continued to view wind as an expensive source of energy, when KKR's approach showed that this wasn't the case.

"Their policy is based on false presumptions, " he said.

The Irish Wind Energy Association is currently battling the ESB and Eirgrid over grid connections for Irish wind farms. Eirgrid recently extended the closing date for grid connection offers to December, which means that new wind farms cannot be connected until then.

By contrast, O'Connor said that while Airtricity did not currently have the capacity to meet KKR's request, it would be able to do so within two years.

"We've got a big pipeline in Texas.

Between ourselves and our partners, we have 3,000 megawatts under development, " he said.

If the deal is concluded, Airtricity will supply TXU with enough energy to power over 380,000 Texas homes on the hottest day of the year.

A Heuston energy analyst said, however, that it was difficult to put a precise potential value on any deal to Airtricity.

"The problem is that wind energy is not terribly reliable and output fluctuates, " said John Olson, chief investment officer with the Sanders Morris Harris Group.

Olson said, however, that the value of a megawatt-hour on the state's energy markets could reach between $75 and $80 in the summer. He said it was likely that KKR would aim to sign a long-term deal with Airtricity.

"In general, 10 years is the minimum in locations with high levels of wind, " said Olson.