Irish energy investors NTR snap up 24MW Scottish wind project

27 Aug 2015

The Irish renewable energy investor and asset manager NTR has expanded its remit into Scotland’s eastern seaboard with the acquisition of the Quixwood Moor wind farm capable of generating 24MW.

NTR – based in Sandyford, Dublin – announced the deal following negotiations with the wind farm’s previous developer, the Banks Group, who were first granted planning permission to develop the land in April 2013.

As part of the deal, NTR has acquired the pre-construction project from the company’s subdivision, Banks Renewables Limited, which is one of the largest renewable energy developers in the UK.

This acquisition marks the company’s first deal concluded on the British mainland following the purchase of another site in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

When completed, Quixwood Moor is expected to produce more than 71,000 MW/hr of green energy per year, which would be enough to support the annual electricity requirements of just under 15,500 homes in the local area.

NTR now expects that the construction of the project will begin this autumn, while commissioning is being targeted for Q4 2016.

Speaking of the deal, NTR’s chief executive Rosheen McGuckian said: “We are very pleased to have completed another significant wind project acquisition and our first in Scotland.

“Together with the acquisition of the single turbine site projects in Northern Ireland in 2014 and the recent acquisition of the 15MW Ora More wind project in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, this takes NTR’s current total wind portfolio to 42MW.”

Over the course of the next two years, NTR said that it plans to continue expansion across the British Isles and hopes to have a portfolio capable of producing 175MW of wind energy.

Last April, the company made a considerable windfall of US$244 (€216m) following the sales of wind farms in its US wind energy company, Wind Capital Group.

Scottish wind farm image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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