ORIT acquires Breach Solar Farm, Cambridge
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) announce the acquisition of Breach Solar Farm, a roughly 68MW ready-to-build solar PV project in Cambridgeshire, UK, from AGR Renewables. The total cost of acquiring and constructing the solar PV project is expected to be approximately £50m. The purchase also gives ORIT the right to construct a battery storage project which is expected to be ready-to-build later in 2022, with a capacity of 50MW/100MWh.
ORIT acquires 50% stake in Bedfordshire battery project
Separate to the Breach transaction, ORIT has entered into an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in a 12MW/24MWh ready-to-build battery storage project in Bedfordshire, UK, from Gridsource. The acquisition will be made alongside another Octopus managed fund, and is expected to complete by Q3 2022 conditional upon the lease agreement for the project site coming into effect. The consideration for the acquisition and the Company’s share of future construction costs is expected to be approximately £4 million.
Acquisition of Lincs Offshore Wind Farm has completed
In late April 2022, the Company announced it had entered an agreement to acquire a 7.75% stake in the Lincs Offshore Wind Farm, which has now completed. Lincs, located off the east coast of England, has been operational since 2013 and benefits from the UK’s ROC regime, receiving 2 ROCs per megawatt hour of electricity generation during the first 20 years of operation. It has an installed capacity of 270MW, made up of 75 turbines each of 3.6 MW spread across c. 35 square kilometres. Lincs is operated and managed by Ørsted, the largest energy company in Denmark and a leading developer and operator of offshore wind farms in the UK and globally.
Construction of onshore wind projects is progressing well
ORIT says that the Construction of its onshore wind farms in France, Poland and the UK has been progressing well. As at 17 June 2022, seven of eight turbines have been installed at the 24MW project in Cerisou, France and the project is expected to be commissioned in Q3 2022. At Kuslin in western Poland, all twelve turbines have been installed and have started generating, with final commissioning works for the 39.6MW wind farm expected to complete in the coming weeks. At the Cumberhead site in Scotland, foundation works for the 50MW wind farm have commenced with five of twelve bases poured to date. Turbine installations are expected to begin in early autumn, with electricity generation commencing in Q4 2022 and full commercial operations planned for Q1 2023.