LONDON, UK: The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG) has exchanged contracts to purchase a additional 11% fairness curiosity within the Merkur offshore wind farm, which is found within the German North Sea.
This incremental funding is roughly 2% of TRIG’s portfolio value. Upon completion TRIG will maintain a 36% fairness curiosity in Merkur and the total stake within the Project will represent roughly 6% of TRIG’s portfolio by value.
The stake is being acquired from funds managed by InfraRed. Accordingly, the transaction course of included an independent third-party valuation, which helps the transaction price, and approval by TRIG’s independent Board of Directors.
The Project advantages from long-term protected money flows through its Feed-in Tariff agreement. It additionally will increase the Company’s investments within the attractive German renewables market to 11% of portfolio value. The Project is well aligned with TRIG’s portfolio construction approach of balancing subsidised and unsubsidised revenues and achieving a broad geographical unfold throughout its chosen European countries.
The Project comprises sixty six GE Haliade-150 6MW offshore wind turbines, and GE Renewable Energy provides Operations & Maintenance (“O&M”) services under a 10-year contract.
The restore and retrofit works related to the Merkur rear body defect first reported in June 2021 are considerably full and working satisfactorily.
The compensation due under the availability guarantee for the year ended 31 March 2022 has been agreed with the turbine and O&M provider, with no monetary impact on the carrying worth for the Project.
TRIG has additionally acquired a 100% fairness curiosity in Project Spennymoor, a battery storage development project which will have a full capability of 100MW / 200MWh when completed, from RES.
Project Spennymoor is located in County Durham, in shut proximity to a excessive voltage substation connection, and is ideally located to alleviate grid constraints and supply balancing services for the numerous industrial cluster within the Humber region, one of six main industrial clusters within the UK.
Project Spennymoor is within the late-stage development phase. RES has secured planning permission, a grid connection offer and land lease options. The project has secured a grid connection enabling graduation of operations in 2031. Work is underway to bring ahead the grid connection date if possible.
Construction works will be timed to commence roughly a year earlier than the connection date when finalised. Once operational, Project Spennymoor is anticipated to symbolize 2% of TRIG’s portfolio by value. The preliminary development funding is roughly 10% of the total anticipated investment.
Richard Morse, Chairman of TRIG, said: “We are happy to be additional increasing TRIG’s stake in Merkur, a project we all know well. Merkur is one of six offshore wind farms within the TRIG portfolio, and an asset which reinforces our place of investing in attractive renewable energy projects that contribute to energy safety and decarbonisation efforts throughout Europe.”
Richard Crawford, Head of Energy Income Funds, InfraRed Capital Partners, said: “TRIG’s funding in Project Spennymoor deepens our place within the versatile capability sector, which goes to become more and more important as renewables penetration increases. Investments in battery storage projects such as these not solely complement the renewable generation assets within the portfolio, however additionally leverage the strong experience of InfraRed and RES.”