The purchase of a small minority share in Orsted’s 1200MW Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm off the coast of east England has been finalised by Greencoat UK Wind.
The investor, with whom there was a May agreement, has now completed the acquisition of a 12.5% stake from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP).
The transaction will cost about £400 million (€470 million) in total.
The publicly traded renewable infrastructure fund stated in May that the purchase will likely be financed by cash flow and, as needed, the company’s revolving credit line.
Shonaid Jemmett-Page, Greencoat UK Wind chair, said “As the leading independent UK wind farm owner, we are pleased to announce our investment into the world’s largest offshore wind farm.”
“Hornsea 1 has a high load factor and high CfD price which complements our subsidy free investments.
“This transaction, once completed, will add another high quality operating asset to our portfolio and increase our net generating capacity to over 1.6GW.
“We continue to see an attractive pipeline of projects, both onshore and offshore, and given the size and scale that the company has attained over recent years, we remain strongly positioned to deliver more value-accretive acquisitions and extend our track record of strong shareholder returns.”
In December 2019, Hornsea 1 began full commercial operation. It has 174 Siemens 7MW turbines.
