Greencoat UK Wind and other funds managed by Schroders have bought a 25 per cent stake in the London Array wind farm from Orsted, of Denmark, in a £717 million deal.
The wind farm has 175 turbines in the outer Thames Estuary, about 12 miles off the coast of Kent. It has a 630-megawatt capacity, generating enough electricity to power about 500,000 homes.
Greencoat UK Wind said its total share of the investment was expected to be £444 million, comprising an equity investment of £394 million and a loan of £50 million, for a 13.7 per cent net stake.
London Array was the biggest offshore wind farm in the world when it was completed more than a decade ago, but since then it has been surpassed by others such as Orsted’s Hornsea One and Two projects off the Yorkshire coast. It earns subsidies equivalent to about £100 to £120 per megawatt-hour on top of wholesale electricity prices.
Greencoat UK Wind is a fund with interests in 46 operational wind farms. It is managed by Schroders Greencoat, which was known as Greencoat Capital until Schroders acquired a 75 per cent stake in a deal completed last year.
Orsted is 50.1 per cent-owned by the Danish state. It owned 50 per cent of London Array at the time it was commissioned, but in 2014 sold half its stake to La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, of Canada. The wind farm is operated by RWE, which owns a 30 per cent stake. Masdar, of Abu Dhabi, owns the final 20 per cent stake.
Shares in Greencoat UK wind were little-changed at 145½p.
• Octopus Energy has announced plans to deliver investment of £15.5 billion in offshore wind projects and farms by 2030, with the money going towards the generation of 12 gigawatts of renewable electricity per year, enough to power ten million homes.