Greencoat UK Wind has reached an agreement to acquire SSE’s stake in the 367MW Walney offshore wind farm, for £350m (€387m).
SEE holds a 25.1% stake in Walney, also known as Walney 1 and 2, which is located off the Cumbrian coast in the UK.
Walney receives two Renewables Obligation Certificates per megawatt-hour and has a load factor of 45.1%.
Orsted, the 50.1% owner built the wind farm and its two phases have been operational since July 2011 and June 2012. PGGM owns the remaining 24.8%.
The acquisition will be funded by Greencoat UK Wind’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.
Greencoat UK Wind chairman Shonaid Jemmett-Page said: “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.”
Laurence Fumagalli at Greencoat Capital added: “We are pleased to make this investment in Walney, a large scale and high load factor offshore wind farm, which should deliver attractive investment returns.
“Walney is the latest addition to our portfolio of 36 ROC and CFD investments, of which offshore assets now comprise 17%.
“Looking ahead, we continue to see a strong pipeline of investment opportunities, both onshore and offshore, and remain committed to our disciplined investment approach.”