Greencoat Renewables to acquire Kokkoneva wind farm in Finland

The AIM-traded firm said the 43.2MW asset was currently under construction in Siikalatva, Finland, with the start of commercial operations expected in the second quarter of 2022.

It said the transaction was structured under a forward sale model, and would only complete once Kokkoneva was fully operational.

The agreement was said to be in line with Greencoat Renewables' European expansion strategy, and followed the acquisition of a portfolio of three French wind farms in summer 2020.

It said the Finnish wind market was “well-established”, and characterised by high wind speeds, large capacity turbines, and a correspondingly low cost of electricity generation.

Kokkoneva is a subsidy-free wind farm and has entered a 10-year fixed-price corporate power purchase agreement with Finland’s state-owned gas utility Gasum for the majority of the electricity generated.

The company said the wind farm would use nine Nordex N149 4.8MW turbines, and would benefit from a 15-year operations and maintenance contract with Nordex.

Abo Wind would finance and manage the construction of the wind farm, and would continue to provide operational management services for the wind farm once operational.

“The combination of low-cost renewable energy, and a well-developed corporate power purchase agreement market make the Nordics a very attractive target for renewable energy investment,” said Paul O'Donnell, partner at the company’s investment manager Greencoat Capital.

“We're delighted to secure such a high-quality asset from Abo wind, and have sight of further value-accretive opportunities in Finland and the rest of the Nordic region.

“As the renewable generation market continues to develop, we expect to see greater opportunity in forward-sale and corporate power purchase agreement models and believe Greencoat Renewables is well positioned to benefit both in Europe and in Ireland.”

At 0835 GMT, shares in Greencoat Renewables were down 0.42% at 1.18p.