Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) has bought a 40 per cent stake in the East Anglia One offshore windfarm, in a deal worth more than £1.6 billion.
The GIG announced today (12 August) it was bought a share of the windfarm from developers ScottishPower Renewables, which is part of the Spanish Iberdrola group.
Under the terms of the agreement, Iberdrola will receive £1.63 billion for the stake when the windfarm goes operational in 2020.
Iberdrola will continue to hold a 60 per cent majority shareholding in the windfarm.
In June, the first turbine was installed at East Anglia One, which lies 43 kilometres off the Suffolk coast.
When complete, the 714MW windfarm will comprise 102 Siemens Gamesa turbines and produce enough electricity to power 600,000 homes.
All the glass fibre turbine are being manufactured by Siemens Gamesa at its factory in Hull, while a number of the 90-meter-high towers are being produced by CSWind UK in Machrihanish, Scotland.
The windfarm was awarded a strike price of almost £120/MWh (2012 prices) in the first Contracts for Difference (CfD) round in 2015.
In a statement, GIG said it has secured debt financing from the market to assist in funding its investment.
The acquisition also means GIG has stakes in more than 5.7GW of offshore wind capacity in the UK across 14 different projects.
In addition to its European holdings, GIG is also involved in other offshore wind markets, including Taiwain, Korea and Japan.
“East Anglia One is a world class development delivering a huge range of benefits to communities across the UK, and I’m delighted that GIG is partnering with ScottishPower Renewables and the Iberdrola group on the project,” said the head of GIG Europe, Edward Northam.
“The UK continues to be a world leader in offshore wind, and I’m incredibly proud of the pioneering role GIG has played in the creation of that market. The need to accelerate our transition to a greener economy has never been greater. We’re committed to driving the UK’s energy transition, establishing offshore wind as the backbone of the UK’s new low-carbon energy system.”
A consortium led by Macquarie bought the GIG, which was originally known as the Green Investment Bank from the British government in 2017 in a £2.3 billion deal.