It has today (1 February) been announced that renewable energy and private equity investor, HgCapital, has sold its 177 megawatt (MW) wind portfolio to UK-based renewable energy investor and developer, Blue Energy, for £250 million.
Under the acquisition, funded by stakeholders and Santander, Blue Energy has also acquired independent onshore wind farm developers, RidgeWind, and its 45 MW of onshore wind projects. The company had originally been acquired by HgCaptial in 2007.
CEO of Blue Energy, Chris Dean, said: “This transaction is an important milestone for the growth of Blue Energy and demonstrates our strong commitment to the UK onshore wind sector. Blue Energy has ambitious growth plans and we aim to progress further transactions of a similar nature in the UK wind sector this year.
“RidgeWind gives us a strong portfolio, and an experienced development team who have pioneered innovative community benefit schemes, which are so important in winning local support for wind farms."
According to Blue Energy, the RidgeWind team will be integrated into Blue Energy and development of RidgeWind’s existing projects will continue ‘uninterrupted’.
Head of HgCapital’s Renewable Energy Team, Tom Murley, added: “The RidgeWind sale confirms that our focused investment strategy is delivering our investors returns at the high end of our target range.
“In RidgeWind we saw the core elements of value creation: a strong team with a focus on larger sites with the best wind resources and the ability to create and manage an industrial scale UK wind business. RidgeWind has delivered on that promise and we are confident that under Blue Energy’s ownership the company will continue to deliver.”
Other Blue Energy projects set to come online this year include 9.7 MW of UK wind farms, while RidgeWind has 45 MW of onshore wind projects nearing completion, 132 MW with planning permission and a ‘significant development pipeline.’
Hall Farm (24.6 MW), Yorkshire, is set to come on stream next week, with Wandylaw Farm (20.5 MW), Northumberland, expected to follow suit in March.
Another four wind farms have had their planning applications approved, these are: Beinneun, Inverness-shire (85 MW); Middlewick, Essex (20.7 MW); Nutsgrove, Peterborough (14.35 MW); and Grange, Lincolnshire (12.3 MW).
The acquisition follows news that Blue Energy is to build Africa’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Ghana, which will generate as much as 155 MW per annum.
Read more about Blue Energy.
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