British utility looks to double installed green generation capacity by 2027

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SSE PLC increased its five-year investment plan by £5.5 billion and decided to retain full ownership of its power distribution business, the British utility said May 24.

Capital expenditure under its revised Net-Zero Acceleration Program (NZAP) to 2027 — known as "NZAP Plus" — is to rise from £12.5 billion to £18 billion, with 50% of spending focused on regulated networks, 40% on renewables and 10% on flexible generation.

The spending would take the company's renewables capacity beyond 9 GW from about 4 GW installed today while delivering an adjusted EPS compound annual growth rate of 13%-16%. The original NZAP plan forecast about 8 GW of renewables and EPS growth of 7%-10% by 2026.

SSE CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies said the uprating was partly driven by inflation but also by new growth opportunities and SSE's additional investment requirements later this decade. Between now and 2032, the company plans to invest up to £40 billion to reach more than 16 GW of renewables and more than 2 GW of flexible low-carbon generation.

"We are aiming higher," Phillips-Davies told analysts as SSE presented its full-year earnings. "This is essentially a floor of what we want to do. It's not a ceiling."

[Alex Blackburne and Henry Edwardes-Evans]

More:  British utility SSE 'aiming higher' with ramped-up £18B investment plan