British energy group Centrica is to pay more than €60 million for a share in one of Airtricity's Scottish ventures.

Airtricity said yesterday that Centrica, which owns British Gas, has bought a 50 per cent share in its electricity wind farm in the Braes of Doune in Stirlingshire, Scotland.

It is understood that the British company is paying about £42 million sterling (€65 million) for the stake.

The wind farm has the capacity to generate 72 mega watts (mw) of electricity when it is completed.

Under the terms of the deal, Airtricity will operate the facility while Centrica will take the power it generates.

Airtricity estimates that the farm will provide enough electricity for 40,000 homes, and maintains that it will cut carbon emissions by 160,000 tonnes a year.

The Irish company also has a 24 mw wind farm at Ardrossan in North Ayreshire.

It is building two more at Dalswinton, which will produce 30 mw, and Minsca, which will generate 38 mw in Dumfries and Galloway.

Earlier this year, Airtricity said it was planning to invest €1 billion in a wind farm in Texas in the US.

It has since targeted a number of other sites in that country, including one in southern Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, Canadian-Irish energy group Finavera said yesterday that it is planning to buy a 20 mw wind farm in Germany.

The facility is still being built and will come on line next December.

The company said the project was attractive because the German government guarantees the prices paid for wind-generated electricity when it is fed into the national grid.