Renewables Infrastructure buys Swedish wind farm – The Renewables Infrastructure Group has exchanged contracts to acquire a 75% interest in Ersträsk Wind Farm, a 229.1MW onshore wind farm near Piteå in Northern Sweden. The project is being acquired from Enercon Independent Power Producer GmbH. The deal increases TRIG’s generation capacity to 1.11GW and will mean that 28% of the portfolio is invested outside the UK.
Ersträsk is currently under construction and will be comprised of 26 Enercon E-103 turbines of 2.35MW capacity each (“Phase 1”) and of 42 Enercon E-126 turbines of 4.0MW capacity each (“Phase 2”). Phase 1 is expected to become operational in Q1 2019 and Phase 2 in Q1 2020.
Payment for each of the two phases will be made only as each phase commences operation and is expected to be approximately EUR190 million in total. The investment will be financed by TRIG’s revolving acquisition facility. The project has no third-party debt.
Renewables in Sweden receive the benefit of a 15-year green certificate, but the substantial majority of revenues come from power sales. Ersträsk has already entered into hedging agreements for fixing power prices for the next 2 years for all of Phase 1 and a portion of Phase 2 expected generation and intends to use hedges on an ongoing basis to manage exposure to power price variations.
Richard Crawford, Director, Infrastructure at InfraRed Capital Partners, said: “Ersträsk is an important transaction for TRIG and its first investment in the Nordic region. This acquisition enables TRIG to further improve its geographical diversification and establish TRIG’s presence in one of Europe’s most attractive regions for renewable energy development. The investment fits nicely within the portfolio alongside TRIG’s other acquisitions in 2018 in France, the UK and Ireland with their strong Feed-in-tariff and Contracts-for-difference support mechanisms.”
TRIG : Renewables Infrastructure buys Swedish wind farm