SCOTTISH AND SOUTHERN ENERGY PLC
DISPOSAL OF ARDROSSAN WIND FARM
SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc) has sold its 100% interest in Ardrossan Windfarm (Scotland) Ltd - which owns and operates a 30MW (megawatt) wind farm in Ayrshire. The purchaser is Infinis, a Terra Firma company.
The transaction comprises a cash consideration of £28.1m paid to SSE and outstanding project debt of £25.7m, transferred to Infinis, giving a total of £53.8m.
Ardrossan Windfarm (Scotland) Ltd was originally owned by Airtricity (acquired by SSE in 2008) and Viridis (Denmark) ApS on a 51%/49% basis. SSE acquired Viridis' interest in April 2010.
The wind farm at Ardrossan was first commissioned in 2004 and was extended in 2009. All of the electricity generated at the site is sold to a third party.
Gregor Alexander, Finance Director of SSE, said:
"We own generation assets in order to provide electricity for our customers, and with electricity generated at the site going elsewhere, Ardrossan did not fit in to our portfolio. In our results statement earlier this week, we said we would use acquisitions and disposals to optimise our wind farm portfolio, and this sale is in line with that."