Statkraft has moved to bolster its UK renewables ambitions with the purchase of onshore wind developer Airvolution Clean Energy.
The Norwegian state-backed utility has acquired the entire shareholding of Glasgow-based Airvolution, and Statkraft intends to double the company’s headcount starting from next month.
Airvolution had been working on behalf of Statkraft for more than two years, helping to identify, secure and bring forward onshore wind opportunities throughout Scotland, however the new deal will bring that expertise in-house.
David Flood, managing director at Statkraft UK, said bringing the team in-house was a “natural progression” of its partnership, “strengthening our ability to deliver against our ambitious targets for the UK”.
Statkraft added the deal was in line with the company’s recently-stated ambitions of developing 600MW of onshore wind and solar in the UK, ambitions which Statkraft executive vice president Steiner Bysveen said formed a “core part” of the company’s growth strategy.
“The acquisition of an organisation which has a strong track record across site selection, development and construction is an important milestone towards achieving this,” Bysveen added.
It also cements the utility’s position in Britain’s onshore wind sector, coming less than a year after Statkraft snapped up UK and Ireland wind developer Element Power.
Statkraft has also set its sights on the UK’s C&I solar and storage market, pairing up with vanadium flow machine manufacturer redT on a fully-financed solution said to be the market’s first.
