Renewco Power aims to accelerate the development of clean energy projects focusing on the roll-out of large-scale solar and wind farms across the UK and Europe. It already has a gigawatt (GW) of early stage projects in the pipeline across the UK and Europe.

The SSE backing comes via Corran Capital and should accelerate the implementation of the team’s high growth strategy.

Renewco’s founders include two of Europe’s most successful renewable power entrepreneurs, Frans van den Heuvel - former chief executive of Solarcentury - and Alan Baker - former chief executive of Airtricity-Scotland and Forsa Energy.

The team is led by chief executive Gavin McCallum, who has a background in private equity and the energy sector, including at BP Alternative Energy; alongside chief commercial officer Alp Karli, founder of solar power business Value Renewables; and chief investment officer Romain Keyen, formerly of Scottish Equity Partners (SEP).

The team was brought together by Gary Le Sueur, a former partner at SEP, who recently founded Corran Capital in Edinburgh to invest in clean energy and climate focused companies.

He will chair Renewco and is joined on the board by Derrick Allan, head of smart-meter service provider SGN Smart and former chairman of Solarcentury.

McCallum, said: “There is a growing and urgent demand for utility-scale renewables projects across Europe, and we are excited about the potential we see for Renewco.

“We will be growing our team over the coming months, adding further commercial expertise to accelerate the delivery of our strategy.”