Private equity firms are for the first time looking at power station acquisitions as the outlook for the industry in the UK brightens after several torrid years.

Rutland, a UK private equity firm specialising in distressed assets, set the ball rolling last week, buying the Fifoots coal-fired power station in South Wales in a £40m (€60m) deal. Until then, no private equity buyer had bought a UK power station. Low electricity prices, environmental risks and the lack of proper record of mothballed or struggling plants have been big obstacles.