Smelter owners to buy Highland renewables firm

OWNERS of the aluminium smelter in Fort William plan to become the UK’s largest provider of renewable energy.

SIMEC Energy, part of GFG Alliance which owns the Lochaber smelter, has entered into an unconditional agreement to acquire Green Highland Renewables (GHR), a Scottish hydro development firm.

The acquisition will be complete by the end of February 2018 and will include 18 hydro-electric power stations in the Highlands and a team of 17 engineers, operators and designers.

In addition to GHR’s 18 existing power stations, SIMEC said it will develop a further eight hydro power plants on its Lochaber Highland estate lands, with the planning process due to start in 2018.

SIMEC Energy also announced its plans to build one gigawatt of renewable power generation capacity in the UK within three years, supporting fellow GFG company Liberty Steel’s ambitious target to develop five million tonnes of low-carbon steel in the UK within five years.

SIMEC is already one of the UK’s largest hydro power operators, including in its portfolio the Lochaber and Kinlochleven stations.

GHR started in 2007 and its teams based in Perth and Dingwall have delivered more than 45 hydro schemes internationally, including one in Kinlochleven earlier this year.

Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of GFG, added: ‘We are delighted to have agreed this deal at the same time as the publication of the UK government’s white paper on industrial strategy because we intend to be a standard bearer for “clean growth” in the economy.’