Sweden's Aira aims to help wean Italy off 'dirty gas boilers'

MILAN (Reuters) - Swedish clean energy company Aira Group launched in Italy on Tuesday, with the ambition of supplying one million homes over the next decade and hiring 4,000 staff.

Aira offers a range of services including heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage and electricity tariffs and aims to help households reduce their costs and their carbon consumption.

Britain, Germany and Italy are among the markets the company is targeting initially as it aims to reach five million households over the next decade. It plans to invest 300-400 million euros in each of those markets as it builds its business.

Aira CEO Martin Lewerth said Italy had a heat pump penetration rate of only 6%, making it ripe for expansion.

"We are here to accelerate the important and much needed transition from dirty gas boilers to clean heat pumps," he said as Aira held a launch event in Milan.

The company was founded by Sweden's Vargas last year and its backers include Lingotto Investment Management, a firm owned by the Exor NV holding company of Italy's Agnelli industrial dynasty.

(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach; Writing by Keith Weir; editing by Barbara Lewis)