NTR strikes US windfarm deal with Italy’s Enel

NTR has reached an agreement to sell its Osage wind energy project in Oklahoma to a consortium backed by Enel, the Italian energy giant.

In the company's interim results statement yesterday, NTR chairman Tom Roche said of the proposed 150MW windfarm: "It is intended to sell this project and a conditional sale agreement is in place with a major utility."

In September, NTR’s US-based Wind Capital subsidiary sought the permission of regulators there to sell the project to its local rival Trade Wind Energy.

The Irish Times has learned that Enel, the largest power utility in Italy, is providing the financial firepower for the deal. NTR is still awaiting regulatory approval for the deal.

The Osage project, which takes its name from the native American tribe on whose lands it is to be built, has been troublesome for NTR.

The Osage nation tribe has fought a long-running campaign to halt it on the grounds that the turbines could endanger bald eagles, which are sacred to the tribe.

NTR, which this year disposed of several assets and refocused its strategy towards wind projects in the US, Ireland and Britain, yesterday announced revenues of €20.7 million for the six months to the end of September, up from €10.8 million. It reported profits of €1.8 million.