New £500m joint venture to reinvigorate onshore wind

In a major boost for the onshore wind power industry, Britain’s green energy company Ecotricity and global construction and development firm Skanska are forming a joint venture – called Skylark – to build wind farm projects in Britain.

Skylark will draw on the expertise of Ecotricity in developing green energy projects through planning, while Skanska will utilise their expertise in construction and engineering.

The joint venture will aim to put 350MW of new green energy projects into planning system in the first 5 years, which would represent a potential investment of £500m should the projects be consented, supplying green electricity to 200,000 homes.

Three development sites have already been identified for Skylark’s first round of investment, representing around 100MW of generating capacity, with the target of delivering new renewable energy capacity for Britain as early as 2018.

Skylark will also create a range of new jobs, from planning experts through to scientific, technical, construction and maintenance roles.

Ecotricity is a ‘not-for-dividend’ enterprise that operates a ‘bills into mills’ business model – that uses customers’ energy bills to fund the building of new sources of green energy.