SSE to sell stake in Walney offshore wind farm to Greencoat UKW

UK utility SSE Plc (LON:SSE) said it has agreed to sell its 25.1% non-operating stake in the 367-MW Walney offshore wind farm to renewable infrastructure fund Greencoat UK Wind Plc (LON:UKW).

The utility will hand over 92 MW of capacity for a total consideration of GBP 350 million (USD 471m/EUR 393m). The transaction is as part of SSE’s divestment plan to shed GBP-2-billion worth of holdings, many of them non-core assets.

It said it considers Walney as such a non-core asset since it is not the wind farm’s principal operator.

The change of stake ownership is expected to be finalised shortly. UKW said separately that it will finance the operation with its acquisition facility.

Besides SSE, Walney has Danish energy major Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) and Dutch pension fund PGGM as its shareholders, with respective stakes of 50.1% and 24.8%.

Following the sale, SSE will have 3.9 GW of renewables capacity in its portfolio.

Located off the UK’s west coast in the Irish Sea, the Walney project was finalised in two phases and its resulting two wind farms were commissioned in 2011 and 2012.

The wind park earns two Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) per MWh, which will run until 2031 and 2032 for Walney 1 and 2, respectively.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.346/EUR 1.123)

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