The operator recently boosted a $175m loan arranged with Bayerische Landesbank, Norddeutsche Landesbank and HypoVerinsbank to $240m and said it intends to raise that again to $500m this quarter. Another $1bn is being sought to fund projects in 2008. The company is also likely to refinance its debt in 2009 to avail of improved terms.

One analyst said it is likely that Airtricity will soon tap existing investors for more equity, but a spokesman for the company that no decision has yet been made about any such move.

Last year Airtricity, a subsidiary of NTR, raised Euro310m in equity from new and existing shareholders. NTR invested over Euro127m to maintain its 51% stake, while British investment firm Ecofin invested roughly Euro130m. Seán Quinn sold his 13% stake in Airtricity, saying it was non-core to his business. Airtricity is now likely to be valued at about Euro1bn.

Airtricity is planning to bring about 400MW of power generation online in the US this year and has sites in states such as Texas and New York.

Last October it acquired Canadian wind power company Gael Force Energy for Euro6m. That outfit has more than 4,000MW of projects under development in Canada.

Smaller wind energy firms are finding it more difficult to make progress with projects because of the shortage of wind turbines and the high capital costs associated with project development. Airtricity has secure orders for turbines capable of generating over 500MW of electricity.

Dublin-based wind energy company Trinergy is in the process of raising Euro1.1bn to fund a major expansion and refinance existing debt. It has over 1,300MW of power generation in operation or development in locations such as Italy, Germany, the UK and Ireland.