| SSE ready for Highland wind farmPosted on 17/01/2008 Scottish and Southern Energy Plc (SSE) was granted planning permission by The Highland Council to develop a 40-MW wind farm at Fairburn in Ross-shire in the UK. The wind farm will have 20 turbines and, subject to a final investment decision, construction work is expected to begin later this year. Its development will require investment of around US$90 million.
When Fairburn is commissioned, SSE will have 315 MW of installed onshore wind farm capacity. This includes the Drumderg, Toddleburn and Achanay wind farms, all of which have planning consent and are at various stages of development. It will be SSE's eighth onshore wind farm.
SSE's agreement to acquire Airtricity Holdings Ltd., when completed, will add 308 MW of operating onshore wind farm capacity to its portfolio and 291 MW of onshore wind farms with full consent and/or under construction. In summary, following the granting of consent for the Fairburn development and the completion of the Airtricity acquisiton, SSE will have over 900 MW of onshore wind farm capacity in operation, under construction or with consent in the UK and Ireland.
Ian Marchant, chief executive of SSE, said, "This is a very good result which reflects the hard work of our project development team. The success at Fairburn means we have secured consent for four separate wind farm developments in 16 months. The combination of our growing portfolio of wind farm assets and those of Airtricity will further reinforce our position as the UK's leading generator of electricity from renewable sources." |
