Scottish & Southern Energy yesterday announced the creation of two fresh joint ventures to create an additional 400 megawatts of windfarm capacity in Portugal.

Scottish & Southern Energy yesterday announced the creation of two fresh joint ventures to create an additional 400 megawatts of windfarm capacity in Portugal.

The Perth-based electricity and gas company's Air- tricity renewable energy division will have a 60% stake in a new joint venture with Portuguese real estate and property development company Riviera. This joint venture company, which will be 40%-owned by Riviera, aims to develop several windfarms with a total capacity of 250MW.

The earliest date for the construction of the first windfarm would be around the end of next year, SSE said in an announcement to the stock market yesterday.

SSE also announced that Airtricity would have a 90% interest in a separate new joint venture with Portuguese and Spanish windfarm developer Hispano Lusa, which will potentially develop eight wind-farm sites with a total capacity of 150MW. These eight sites are in the Baiao, Amarante, and Monsim de Basto areas of northern Portugal.

SSE announced plans in March to invest, largely on an equity basis, around £500m in renewable energy in new markets including Portugal.

In April, SSE entered into a joint venture with Gothenburg-based Gothia Vind which is aiming to develop around 200MW of windfarm capacity in western Sweden.