SSE to sell stake in Scottish wind farms for £635m

Energy firm SSE is to sell a stake in two Scottish wind farms for £635 million to fund a programme to buy back shares in the company from investors.

SSE has agreed to sell a 49.9% holding in its Stronelairg and Dunmaglass wind farms to Greencoat UK Wind in partnership with a major UK pension fund.

Up to £200 million of the proceeds will be used to fund the share buy-back programme and the remaining proceeds will be used to reduce SSE’s debt.

The £635 million consideration equals to around £4 million per megawatts generated by the wind farms, which SSE will continue to operate.

The deal is line with SSE’s strategy announced last November to sell stakes in its portfolio of onshore and offshore wind farms in order to create value from development and operation, as well as ownership, of assets.

Following the disposal of the Stronelairg and Dunmaglass wind farms as well as the sale of a 40% stake in the Beatrice offshore wind farm, SSE’s renewable generation capacity will be around 4 gigawatts.

SSE finance director Gregor Alexander said: “Both Stronelairg and Dunmaglass are a testament to SSE’s ability to design, develop, construct and operate first-class renewable energy assets.

“Onshore wind makes a huge contribution to supplying low-carbon electricity to the GB market and to meeting the UK’s carbon reduction targets.

“The sale of stakes in these wind farms to Greencoat is a continuation of SSE’s longstanding approach of partnering and securing value for shareholders at appropriate times.”