Two Scottish wind farms bought for bumper £104m before they're even built

Greencoat UK Wind, the renewable infrastructure fund, has announced the forward purchase of two Scottish wind farms in a deal totalling £104 million.

Greencoat UK Wind has an extensive portfolio of renewable assets. Picture: Contributed

Construction of the Windy Rig and Twentyshilling wind farms in Dumfries & Galloway is expected to commence shortly, Greencoat said, with the acquisitions targeted to complete in the second quarter of 2021 and third quarter of 2021 respectively, once each wind farm is fully operational.

The 43.2-megawatt Windy Rig and 37.8-megawatt Twentyshilling farms are subsidy-free projects and were originally developed by Element Power, acquired by Statkraft in September 2018.

Greencoat said that Statkraft would manage the construction of both wind farms and also provide route-to-market and operational management services for the facilities once operational.

Tim Ingram, chairman of Greencoat UK Wind, said: “This transaction follows, and is very similar to, our recently announced Glen Kyllachy acquisition from Innogy, with acquisition completion occurring upon the successful commissioning of the wind farms.

“We are delighted to partner with Statkraft on this transaction, demonstrating that UK Wind is the continuing partner of choice for utilities, who are well placed to retain and manage the risks associated with wind farm construction.”

The Greencoat UK Wind fund is managed by a team at Greencoat Capital LLP, the European renewable investment manager with more than £4 billion of assets under management.