New wind energy firm opens for business

An Edinburgh-based business which is already the UK’S third largest generator of onshore wind energy has been officially launched.

Ventient Energy has been formed by combining a portfolio of wind farms owned by Zephyr Investments with a number of sites that were formerly owned by Infinis and which were acquired by institutional investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management.

Approximately two-thirds of Ventient Energy’s power from its 34 wind farms is generated in Scotland and in total the company operates 507 turbines, supplying the equivalent of 420,000 homes annually.

The business employs a total of 44 staff with 31 of those based in Edinburgh.

Chief executive Scott Mackenzie, a former managing director at Infinis Wind, said Ventient was the largest nonutility owner of onshore wind in Britain and that further growth was in the pipeline.

“We are ambitious and committed to creating prosperity through safe and sustainable generation of renewable sourced electricity, through quality job creation and supporting the communities in which we operate,” he said.

“The UK onshore wind market is fragmented, and Ventient Energy owns only 6 per cent of market capacity at present, so we see plenty of opportunities to grow our installed capacity through consolidation.”

The largest site in Ventient’s portfolio is the Farr project near Inverness which has 40 wind turbines and a capacity of 92 megawatts. 0 ‘Plenty of opportunities to grow’ – Scott Mackenzie