Greencoat Renewables acquires four French wind farms

Greencoat Renewables acquires four onshore wind farms in France from Swiss energy giant Axpo.

The 65 megawatt (MW) portfolio will bring the Irish-listed company’s total installed capacity to 1,079 MW, including its recent acquisition of 50 percent of the German offshore project Borkum Riffgrund 1.

France will represent 12 percent of the Greencoat Renewables portfolio upon completion of the sale.

All four new wind farms have been completed and benefit from long-term contracts of up to 20 years with the French government.

These include the 16 MW Arcy-Précy park with eight turbines in Burgundy, the 9.4 MW Butte de Menonville park with four turbines in the Center Val-de-Loire region and the 20.3 MW Genonville park and the 19.8 MW Grande Pièce Park, both of which have six turbines.

Three of the farms have fixed price contracts through 2041 or 2042, with the grand pièce contract running through 2032.

The transaction is the company’s second portfolio acquisition in France and follows Greencoat’s expansion into Spain, Finland, Germany and Sweden.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

“This transaction represents another milestone in Greencoat Renewables’ strategy to expand our position in the French renewable energy market, providing an opportunity to secure long-term contracted renewable energy assets,” said Investment Manager Bertrand Gautier.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Axpo, a major owner of renewable assets in Europe.”

Last year Greencoat generated net cash of €70.5 million compared to €66.4 million in 2020.

During the year the company’s portfolio grew to 25 plants with a net generation capacity of 800 MW.

Greencoat said his portfolio’s exposure to higher market power prices and strong inflation protection helped deliver four cents of net asset value growth in 2021.

The group’s portfolio generated 1,522 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity during this period, compared to 1,404 GWh in 2020.

The company, which produced renewable energy for 339,000 homes, declared a dividend of 6.06 cents for the period with a target of 6.18 cents per share for 2022.

Greencoat had a group debt of 631.1 million euros at the end of last year.

Earlier this year, the company bought the Tullahennel Wind Farm in County Kerry from funds managed by subsidiaries of Apollo Global Management.

Greencoat Renewables is managed by Greencoat Capital, a specialist manager dedicated to the renewable energy infrastructure sector.