SSE expands renewables reach with Airtricity acquisition

Scottish & Southern Energy yesterday agreed to buy Dublin-based renewable energy company Airtricity for around £1.1bn, marking its biggest acquisition since the Perth-based utility was formed nine years ago.

Ian Marchant, SSE's chief executive, said the deal would likely be completed by late February or March, and that it included taking over 375m (£280m) of Airtricity debt.

He added that SSE, which is already UK's second-biggest power producer, would now also become the country's largest windfarm operator, and that the deal would take the group into Europe and Asia.

Marchant said the company now had "development opportunities" in Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands and China.

Meanwhile, Airtricity, Ireland's largest windfarm operator which is 51%-owned by Irish waste management firm NTR, has been expanding operations in the UK, and last year it won approval to build a windfarm off the coast of England.

SSE said the acquisition allowed it to expand its renewable energy generation capacity to 3500 megawatts by 2013.

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