Greencoat UK Buys Stake in Hornsea One

May 16, 2022, by Adnan Memija

Greeencoat UK Wind has agreed to acquire a net 12.5 per cent stake in the 1.2 GW Hornsea One offshore wind farm from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a total cash consideration of approximately GBP 400 million (EUR 470 million).

Illustration; Hornsea One offshore wind farm; Photo source: Ørsted

The acquisition is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2022 and will be funded from cash flow, and to the extent required, the company’s revolving credit facility.

“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,” said Shonaid Jemmett Pae, chairman of Greencoat UK Wind.

“This transaction, once completed, will add another high quality operating asset to our portfolio and increase our net generating capacity to over 1.6GW.“

Located in the North Sea off the east coast of England, Hornsea One is the world’s largest offshore wind farm to date. Developed by Denmark’s Ørsted, the offshore wind farm became fully operational in January 2020.

The wind farm features 174 Siemens Gamesa 7 MW wind turbines and is generating enough electricity to power over one million homes in the UK.

Hornsea One has in place an inflation-linked Contract-for-Difference (CfD) subsidy with 13 years remaining.

A couple of months ago, the Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) and Equitix joined forces to acquire a 7.8 per cent minority stake in Hornsea One from GIP which is expected to be finalised at the end of the first half of 2022.