September 27, 2010
Scotland

Wind developer e-Gen wins £50m backing

BBC News, www.bbc.co.uk 27 September 2010

A Borders business has secured a £50m investment deal that will allow it to develop dozens of small-scale wind projects around Scotland.

e-Gen, which is based in Duns, has won the funding package from Rockfield Energy Investments.

Together they will set up a new company – e-Gen Partners Limited.

The new firm will focus on wind projects in the 500kW to 1500kW band across rural Scotland, working mostly with farmers and landowners.

e-Gen Partners is set to fund the development, construction and operation of hundreds of small-scale wind projects.

Four sites are already in the planning stage while discussions are ongoing for a further 25.

The company said it had developed a unique mapping tool which allowed it to locate turbines in the best places.

A typical site for e-Gen would house between one and three wind turbines, which would be about 55m tall.

The company pays an annual ground rent to the landowner based on the number of turbines in exchange for a 20-plus year lease of their land.

The chief executive of e-Gen, Tom Forsyth, said: “We believe our business model can deliver big benefits to farmers and landowners across rural Scotland, by adding value to their properties and boosting their incomes at no cost or risk to themselves.

“In terms of number or size of turbines, we are not typical wind farm developers. Our sector is the community scale project for which planning consents are typically faster and less complex, and visual impact is minimal.”

The announcement on the funding package comes as financiers from around the world gather in Edinburgh for a two-day conference in financing low-carbon technologies.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/09/27/wind-developer-e-gen-wins-50m-backing/