SCOTTISH and Southern Energy (SSE) said yesterday it had agreed to acquire a 25.1% stake in the 367-megawatt (MW) Walney offshore windfarm being built in the Irish Sea from Danish state-controlled Dong Energy, which will retain a 74.9% stake.
Perth-based SSE will pay up to about £39million of which about £17million is subject to the operational performance of the windfarm.
The windfarm, which Dong expects will cost close to £1billion to develop, is expected to enter commercial operation in two phases, during the first half of 2011 and towards the end of that year.
Separately, Dong said that it and German group Siemens were to buy 50% of the 270MW Lincs windfarm project in the North Sea from utility Centrica. It said their share of the project would represent a capital investment of about £375million.
Construction of Lincs is expected to begin late next summer, with commissioning scheduled for 2012. Centrica will retain 50% of the project, to which Siemens is to deliver 75 3.6MW turbines.