SGM.L Regulatory News (SGM)

30 Jan 2006 07:01

Scottish & Southern Energy PLC30 January 2006 INVESTMENT IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUND Scottish and Southern Energy plc ("SSE") is to invest up to £2.4m in a fund tosupport renewable energy projects and technologies being developed by companiesin the East of Scotland. The fund will be managed by a subsidiary of Sigma Technology Group, anAIM-listed fund management company that also owns Sigma Technology InvestmentsLimited, an investor in the fund. The European Regional Development Fund, FifeEnterprise and a group of private investors are also investing in the fund,which will have an initial value of up to £6.0m. The ten-year fund will have aninvestment period of three years. SSE expects that its investment will yield business development opportunities intechnologies which have the potential to help the UK meet its targets forreducing emissions of carbon dioxide while being capable of generatingsignificant amounts of electricity. It will gain access to a wide range of ideasand initiatives of direct relevance to the energy sector, which may be currentlydistant from market but which are worthy of support to establish whether theyare capable of technical and commercial success. SSE will also have the opportunity to earn a return from investments where thecompanies prove to be successful, and will be able to establish directcommercial relationships with investee companies. Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, said: "SSE is involved in a wide range of leading-edge projects with the objective ofmeeting demand for electricity while reducing emissions of carbon dioxide. Ihope that this new fund will give us opportunities to work with a variety ofcompanies to help projects which are technically and commercially viable tobecome successful. "The fund will complement our other investments in low and zero carbongeneration technologies and in demand-reduction technologies such as microgeneration. I am optimistic that it will identify a good number of projects withsignificant potential which we should support." Enquiries to: Scottish and Southern EnergyAlan Young, Director of Corporate Communications 0870 900 0410Jennifer McGregor, Public Affairs Manager 0870 900 0410 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange