Enel Green Power buys into 64 MW Italy wind schemes

MILAN (Reuters) - Enel Green Power, renewable energy arm of Italy's biggest utility Enel, has bought a majority stake in two wind power projects in Italy with a total installed capacity of 64 megawatts, the company said on Monday.

The two projects have all the necessary permits to build wind parks in the southern region of Calabria, in areas with high wind power output. The plants are expected to be operational in 2010, Enel said in a statement.

Enel did not disclose how much it paid renewable energy company Micropower for control of the projects.

Once in service, the two plants will generate around 150 million kilowatt hours of power a year, enough to meet the needs of around 60,000 households and avoid the annual emission of more than 110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), it said.

Enel Green Power Chairman Francesco Starace told Reuters in September the company planned several small acquisitions in wind power generation by the end of this year to boost its portfolio.

Enel Green Power has installed capacity of more than 4,500 MW, with power generated by more than 500 wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass plants around the world.

(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova, editing by Anthony Barker)