Greencoat Renewables to buy chunk of Butendiek wind farm

Greencoat Renewables has agreed to acquire 22.5% of the Butendiek offshore wind farm in Germany from Marguerite Pantheon, it announced on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded firm said the wind farm is located in Germany's exclusive economic zone in the North Sea, and consists of 80 Siemens Gamesa 3.6MW turbines that have been operational since 2015.

Butendiek benefits from a fixed-price feed-in tariff until December.

After that, Greencoat said the project would benefit from a floor price for the electricity sold until December 2035, exposing it to the emerging European corporate power purchase agreement market.

The transaction remained subject to regulatory approval, and was expected to close in the first quarter.

Separately, Greencoat said it had also completed the acquisition of the 25MW Taghart wind farm in Ireland, as well as the 45MW Kokkoneva wind farm in Finland.

Both assets were acquired under a forward sale commitment.

After the acquisition of Butendiek, Greencoat said its total borrowings would stand at about 47% of gross asset value.

“We are pleased to make this acquisition which consolidates Greencoat Renewables' market position in the German offshore wind sector,” said investment manager Bertrand Gautier.

“This acquisition will also contribute to the diversification of Greencoat Renewables' European portfolio whilst bringing further strong contracted cash flows.

“The acquisition of Butendiek demonstrates Greencoat Renewables' commitment to the European offshore wind sector, which plays an increasing role in providing cost-competitive, decarbonated and reliable electricity.”

At 1542 GMT, shares in Greencoat Renewables were down 0.88% at 1.13p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.