(Bloomberg) — The Renewables Infrastructure Group Ltd., a
clean-energy fund based in London, bought six onshore wind farms
in Scotland for 246 million pounds ($388 million).
The operating sites with gross capacity of 433 megawatts
raise the fund’s net clean-energy generating capacity 48 percent
to about 658 megawatts, it said in a statement Wednesday. Fred
Olsen Renewables Ltd. will operate and maintain the facilities.
“This is a major expansion in the size of TRIG’s business,
increasing the portfolio by approximately half and bringing
further advantages of scale and project diversification to
TRIG’s investors,” Richard Crawford, director of infrastructure
at the fund’s investment manager InfraRed Capital Partners Ltd.,
said in the statement.
TRIG funded the deal partly with its own cash and also an
acquisition facility with Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and
National Australia Bank Ltd., it said in the statement. The fund
plans to raise money to repay part of the acquisition facility
through an institutional share offer next month, it said.
All of the projects receive premium payments for power they
produce through the U.K.’s Renewable Obligation program.
The U.K. last week said it would scrap subsidies for new
onshore wind under the program a year early. That angered the
clean-energy industry as it halts assistance to the cheapest
large-scale renewable power. The government says the action is
necessary to spur support for less-mature technologies.
Land-based wind costs about $85 a megawatt-hour, compared
with about $90.70 for coal, according to Bloomberg estimates.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Tony Barrett, Amanda Jordan