Greencoat UK Wind invests in Cumbrian offshore wind farm – Greencoat UK Wind has agreed to acquire SSE’s 25.1% interest in the Walney I and II offshore wind farms for a headline consideration of £350m.
Walney is located approximately 9 miles off the Cumbrian coast and has a capacity of 367.2MW. Walney was constructed by Orsted and its two phases have been operational since July 2011 and June 2012. The wind farm receives a subsidy in the form of 2 ROCs per MWh, has a load factor of 45.1% and is operated and managed by Orsted, the 50.1% owner. The remaining 24.8% is owned by PGGM.
The acquisition will be funded by UKW’s acquisition facility, recently resized to £400m. Following the acquisition of Walney, borrowings under the acquisition facility will amount to £380m, bringing total borrowings to £980m (35% of gross asset value).
Shonaid Jemmett-Page, chairman of Greencoat UK Wind, commented: “We are delighted to acquire SSE’s 25.1% interest in Walney, which is a high quality, ROC accredited asset. The acquisition is our third offshore wind farm investment since listing in 2013, following our investments in Rhyl Flats and North Hoyle. Walney is a natural addition to our portfolio of operating UK wind farms and increases our net generating capacity to over 1GW for the first time.”
UKW : Greencoat UK Wind invests in Cumbrian offshore wind farm