Greencoat UK Wind has agreed to acquire a net 12.5% stake in Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm in the UK from Global Infrastructure Partners ("GIP") for £400 million (around $496.5 million). The acquisition is expected to complete in Q3 2022.
Hornsea 1 is the world's largest offshore wind farm in operation and is located 80 miles off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea.
It comprises 174 Siemens 7MW turbines and has a grid export capacity of 1,200MW, and is the world's first offshore wind farm to exceed 1GW.
Hornsea 1 entered into full commercial operation in December 2019, has a high load factor and benefits from a 15 year CFD at a price of £175.25/MWh (real 2022).
Hornsea 1 is currently 50% owned by Ørsted and 50% owned by GIP, with GIP's 50% stake part-funded by £2.9 billion of limited recourse debt.
UKW's pro-rata share of this limited recourse debt is £0.7 billion, giving a total enterprise value of £1.1 billion for UKW's net 12.5% stake. Orsted will continue to provide operation, maintenance, and management services to the wind farm.
Greencoat Eyes More Acquisitions
The Hornsea 1 acquisition is expected to be funded from cash flow and, to the extent required, the company's revolving credit facility.
Shonaid Jemmett-Page, Chairman of Greencoat UK Wind, said: "This transaction, once completed, will add another high quality operating asset to our portfolio and increase our net generating capacity to over 1.6GW.
"We continue to see an attractive pipeline of projects, both onshore and offshore, and given the size and scale that the company has attained over recent years, we remain strongly positioned to deliver more value-accretive acquisitions and extend our track record of strong shareholder returns."
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