Swedish power company Vattenfall has acquired AMEC Wind Energy Ltd, a British developer of commerical wind farms, for £126.6 million.

"This move positions Vattenfall to further expand its presence in the UK market and to advance its efforts to make electricity clean by reducing emissions from electricity production and to increase electricity production from renewable energy," Vattenfall said in a statement.

Under the terms of the deal, AMEC will be asked to provide specialist consultancy, engineering and project management services to Vattenfall's wind powered electricity generation projects in the UK.

The move comes just six months after the Scottish Government turned down an application by Lewis Wind Power, a consortium of AMEC and British Energy, to build a wind farm in the Hebrides which the companies said would have generated 650MW of renewable energy.

As per the information available, AMEC Wind was established eight years ago to develop a portfolio of potential sites for on and off-shore wind farms. The portfolio sold consists of one site under construction and eight sites at varying stages in the planning process. The division generated a loss of £6m last year. AMEC is retaining ownership of a proposed wind farm project on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

Vattenfall aims to produce 50 terawatt hours from wind power by 2030, a level that would allow it to provide renewable electricity to 10 million households. It already owns and operates the Kentish Flats offshore wind farm and recently announced an offer to acquire UK wind farm developer Eclipse Energy.