Airtricity development business makes natural progression to SSE Renewables
12 January 2010
Energy company Airtricity has today (Monday 4th January 2010) renamed its renewable energy development business as SSE Renewables. A leading European developer of renewable energy, SSE Renewables will be headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and will employ over 200 staff out of 17 offices located throughout Europe.
SSE Renewables will be responsible for the development and construction of SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) Group’s renewable energy projects across Continental Europe, Great Britain and Ireland, including onshore and offshore wind farms, hydro, marine, biomass, and solar projects.
Airtricity’s renewables development and energy supply businesses became part of SSE in February 2008 when the Perth, Scotland-based company acquired the Irish business. The Airtricity energy supply business in Ireland will continue to use the Airtricity brand.
SSE is a leading European generator of renewable energy with over 2,200MW of renewable electricity generation capacity (wind, hydro, and biomass) in the UK and Ireland, and a portfolio of over 15,000MW of renewable energy projects in construction, with consent or in development.
SSE Renewables is currently developing two of Europe’s larger wind farms, a 350MW onshore wind farm, Clyde, located in the Upper Clyde Valley in Scotland and a 504MW offshore wind farm, Greater Gabbard, located off the Suffolk coast of England, with joint venture partners RWE npower renewables.
In addition to these projects and the exploration and development of other renewables technologies, SSE Renewables will have responsibility for the development of almost 2,500MW of consented European offshore wind farm projects in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany, as well as the development of almost 1500MW of consented European onshore wind farm capacity in Ireland, Great Britain, Sweden, Portugal, and Italy.
SSE Chief Executive Ian Marchant said: “Since joining SSE in 2008, the Airtricity team has taken our renewables business forward into a range of new areas, expanding their expertise beyond their original wind energy focus. Changing the business’s name to SSE Renewables recognises that their knowledge and enthusiasm now embraces the full spectrum of sustainable energy.”
Commenting on the launch of SSE Renewables, Chief Executive Officer Paul Dowling stated: “The launch of SSE renewables is an exciting development for the company that will allow our renewables business to flourish. The creation of SSE Renewables supports and promotes SSE’s European business objectives and reflects the company’s continued investment in renewables. SSE Renewables not only celebrates Airtricity’s proud heritage over the past decade as a wind farm developer but also marks the company’s natural progression as it embarks upon exploring and delivering new renewable energy technologies. In addition to wind farm developments, we will champion marine, hydro, biomass, and solar across Europe to protect the future of our planet with even more passion, innovation and integrity.”
Notes to Editors:
About SSE Renewables
SSE Renewables is responsible for the development and construction of SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) group’s renewable energy projects across Continental Europe, Great Britain and Ireland, including offshore and onshore wind farms, hydro, marine, biomass, and solar projects.
SSE is a leading European generator of renewable energy, with over 2,200MW of renewable electricity generation capacity (wind, hydro, and biomass) in the UK and Ireland, and a portfolio of over 15,000MW of renewable energy projects in construction, with consent or in development in Europe.
SSE Renewables is currently developing two of Europe’s larger wind farms, a 350MW onshore wind farm, Clyde, located in the Upper Clyde Valley in Scotland and a 504MW offshore wind farm, Greater Gabbard, located off the Suffolk coast of England, with joint venture partners RWE npower renewables.
SSE Renewables has also been awarded an Option Agreement by the Welsh Assembly to seek planning permission to develop a wind farm on FCW managed land at Nant y Moch, otherwise known as SSA D.
The development will provide enough electricity approximately equivalent to the demand of up to 65,000 homes.
Nant y Moch SSA D is an area of land identified by the National Assembly for Wales as a strategic area for the delivery of large scale wind energy generation. There are seven strategic search areas in Wales. This is to support UK climate change action, achieve Wales renewable energy targets for 2010 and 2020 and to ensure security in our electricity supply. SSA D was identified in Technical Advice Note 8: renewable Energy issued in 2005
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