Investment in Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm
16 May 2022
Greencoat UK Wind plc
Investment in Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm
Greencoat UK Wind plc (the "Company" or "UKW"), the leading listed renewable infrastructure fund, invested in UK wind farms, is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire a net 12.5% stake in Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm from Global Infrastructure Partners ("GIP") for a total cash consideration (including cash and working capital) of approximately £400 million. The acquisition is expected to complete in Q3 2022.
Hornsea 1 is the world's largest offshore wind farm and is located 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea. It comprises 174 Siemens 7MW turbines and has a grid export capacity of 1,200MW (the world's first offshore wind farm to exceed 1GW). Hornsea 1 entered into full commercial operation in December 2019, has a high load factor and benefits from a 15 year CFD at a price of £175.25/MWh (real 2022).
Hornsea 1 is currently 50% owned by Orsted and 50% owned by GIP, with GIP's 50% stake part funded by £2.9 billion of limited recourse debt. UKW's pro rata share of this limited recourse debt is £0.7 billion, giving a total enterprise value of £1.1 billion for UKW's net 12.5% stake. Orsted will continue to provide operation, maintenance and management services to the wind farm.
The acquisition is expected to be funded from cash flow and, to the extent required, the Company's revolving credit facility.
Shonaid Jemmett-Page, Chairman of the Company, 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."
For further information, please contact:
Greencoat UK Wind PLC 020 7832 9425
Stephen Lilley
Laurence Fumagalli
Tom Rayner
Headland Consultancy 020 3805 4822
Stephen Malthouse
Rob Walker
Charlie Twigg
Notes to Editors:
Greencoat UK Wind PLC ("UKW") is the leading listed renewable infrastructure fund, which has invested in 45 operating UK wind farms with net generating capacity of 1,610MW (including Twentyshilling and Hornsea 1). The Company's aim is to provide investors with an annual dividend that increases in line with RPI inflation (7.72p for 2022) while preserving the capital value of its investment portfolio in the long term on a real basis through reinvestment of excess cash flow.
UKW is managed by an experienced team at Greencoat Capital LLP, a leading renewable investment manager with over £7 billion of assets under management. UKW is governed by a strong and experienced independent board.
UKW is incorporated in England and Wales and is a UK Investment Trust.
For more information about UKW, please visit http://www.greencoat-ukwind.com .
For more information about Greencoat Capital LLP, please visit http://www.greencoat-capital.com .
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.
Latest directors dealings
- 14 minutes ago Tertiary Minerals
- 14 minutes ago Hargreaves Services
- 13 hours ago ASOS
- 13 hours ago MJ Gleeson
- 13 hours ago Rolls-Royce Holdings