Greencoat Renewables takes a stake in a German wind farm

Greencoat Renewables has added more offshore wind capacity in Germany to its portfolio by purchasing a 22.5 percent stake in a North Sea wind farm.

As part of the expansion of the European portfolio, reencoat bought the stake in the Butendiek offshore wind farm from the Marguerite Pantheon investment fund for an estimated €185 million.

The wind farm consists of 80 3.6-megawatt Siemens turbines that have been in operation since 2015.

Butendiek is currently benefiting from a fixed-price feed-in tariff (FiT) that will apply until the end of the year.

Goodbody analyst Gerry Hennigan said he now expects the company to “take advantage of current sentiment towards the renewable energy market to raise additional equity if acquisition opportunities arise in Europe.”

Greencoat is in a busy acquisition phase and has invested approximately €1 billion in new assets since the beginning of last year.

“Most importantly, it has invested over €500 million in two offshore facilities since April 2022,” said Davy analyst Michael Mitchell. “This means that the German offshore market now accounts for 15 percent of its pro forma portfolio and becomes the second largest market for the group.”

Separately, the Company has also completed the acquisition of the 25 MW Taghart wind farm in Cavan and a 45 MW Kokkoneva wind farm in Finland.

Greencoat said both acquisitions were made as part of a forward sale commitment.

The Butendiek transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first quarter of the year.

Following the investment in Butendiek, Greencoat’s total borrowings will now amount to approximately 47 percent of gross asset value.

“The acquisition of Butendiek demonstrates Greencoat Renewables’ commitment to the European offshore wind sector, which is playing an increasing role in providing cost-effective, non-carbonated and reliable electricity,” said Greencoat Investment Manager Bertrand Gautier.

In September, the company reported profit after tax of €75 million for the six months ended June 30, compared to €22.7 million for the same period last year. Turnover for the period was 143 million euros.

Greencoat’s investments generated 1,127 gigawatt hours of electricity in the first half of 2022, compared to 745 gigawatt hours of electricity in the same period last year.

Codling Wind Park, a joint venture between Fred. Olsen Seawind and ED Renewables now require 30 percent fewer wind turbines than originally proposed for the development off the County Wicklow coast.

The project will now include 100 turbines, but is still expected to generate enough electricity to reach over 20 percent of the country’s offshore wind targets by 2030.

Codling was originally estimated to produce between 900 megawatts and 1500 megawatts.

It is said to be around eight to 14 miles (13 to 22 km) from the coast between Greystones and the town of Wicklow.

Poolbeg in Dublin will be the site of the wind farm’s grid connection, with 1,450 megawatts expected to be the maximum amount of electricity that can be generated. This can supply up to 1.2 million households with electricity.

Greencoat shares fell nearly half a percentage point, roughly in line with losses in wind energy stock indexes.