The first agreement is with Riviera, a real estate and property development company based in Portugal, to jointly develop a number of wind farms with a total capacity of 250MW.
Under the terms of this agreement, Airtricity will hold a 60% share in the joint venture company and Riviera will hold 40%. As these projects are at an early stage of development, the earliest likely date for construction of the first wind farm is around the end of 2009.
Airtricity has also signed an agreement with wind farm developer Hispano Lusa, pursuant to which a joint venture company called Airtricity Marao will be established. The company will be 90% owned by Airtricity and 10% owned by Hispano Lusa.
Airtricity Marao will be responsible for the development of eight potential wind farm sites with a total capacity of 150MW in the Baiao, Amarante and Mondim de Basto areas of northern Portugal.
Paul Dowling, CEO of Airtricity, said: I am delighted to have concluded these partnerships and to be working with developers of the caliber of Hispano Lusa and Riviera. Airtricity’s development pipeline in Portugal is now over 1,000MW. We are fully committed to the construction of this wind farm pipeline and to making a substantial contribution to Portugal achieving its target of 45% of energy consumption from renewable sources by 2010.
