SSE slashes investment plans as planning and grid delays bite

SSE cut its renewable energy growth and investment targets and took a £250m ($335m) hit on its pipeline as delays to permitting and grid connections bit the UK-based group.

Scotland-based SSE – one of the UK’s largest green power and networks developers, with increasingly international ambitions – said it now expects to spend around £3bn less than previously expected in the five year period ending March 2027, with a total £17.5bn now foreseen.

CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies said: “In response to the impact on growth rates from factors like a changing macro environment and delays to policy and planning, we are reducing spending on our energy businesses and evolving our internal structures to sharpen our focus on controllable costs and efficiencies.”

The biggest single drop in its capital investment plans comes for SSE Renewables, which is now set to see £5.5bn spent compared to £7bn previously foreseen.

While 90% of its investment plan is currently committed, SSE said the remainder is “subject to delay or potentially even cancellation if the right investment conditions do not emerge”.

In its full year-results, the company took a £250m impairment on its investment in its Southern Europe renewables pipeline.

“This impairment reflects sector-wide delays impacting permitting and grid connections, which has meant the build-out of this platform has been slower than originally planned,” said the UK group.

Slow permitting and the ability to secure grid connections are regularly cited by the European renewables sector as the top two enemies of growth, with governments accused of not acting fast enough to solve them – for example, by adopting new EU rules on project consenting schedules.

SSE reported adjusted pre-tax operating profits 3% lower at £2.14bn.