Renewable investment

Scottish and Southern Energy (

) has agreed to sell half of its equity in Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds (GGWOL) to

, the

subsidiary of

.

GGOWL was specifically created by SSE’s Airtricity and Fluor International to develop the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the outer Thames Estuary.

In addition to the £308m cash consideration, npower will reimburse SSE for 50 per cent of capital costs incurred during the development of the project.

The completed wind farm will have a total capacity of approximately 500MW and a load factor of over 40 per cent. It will also include 140 turbines mounted on steel monopiles and transition pieces, in water depths ranging between 24 and 34m.

Onshore work is currently in progress with offshore construction on track to begin next year. SSE will act as operator throughout its construction and operational phase with the entire project scheduled for completion in 2011.