Statkraft has acquired UK onshore wind developer Airvolution Clean Energy. The Nowegian state-owned company said the acquisition fits with its ambition to deploy 600MW of onshore wind and solar generation in the UK by 2025, with a further 600MW in development. In late 2018 Statkraft acquired the UK and Ireland activities of Element Power.

Statkraft said Airvolution has been working exclusively on its behalf since October 2017 to identify, secure and bring forward project opportunities. Following the deal.  Airvolution’s Glasgow office will be retained by Statkraft and double in size with new recruits starting in September.

Richard Mardon, chief executive of Airvolution Clean Energy, said; “This acquisition is a clear and powerful endorsement of our strong performance over the past two years. The UK policy changes of 2015 resulted in great uncertainty in the sector, and I’m proud that with an enormous amount of hard work and determination we have been able to adapt and continue to deliver quality projects.

“Our ambitions for the UK are a core part of Statkraft’s growth strategy and our plans to increase our portfolio of wind power assets to 6,000MW and our portfolio of solar power assets to 2,000MW globally by 2025. The acquisition of an organisation which has a strong track record across site selection, development, and construction is an important milestone towards achieving this,” said Steinar Bysveen, executive vice president of Statkraft.