A leading renewable energy investor is spending more than €61 million on a wind farm in Cork. Greencoat Renewables announced yesterday that it had acquired the Ballybane farm, which has a capacity of just over 48 megawatts. It is estimated that one megawatt of wind energy can produce enough power to meet the annual electricity needs of 500 homes.
Greencoat said that it bought the wind farm “from an independent local developer for a total consideration of €61.3 million.” It declined to name the developer, but said that the deal had been funded by its €250 million credit facility.
The Ballybane wind farm consists of 21 turbines, all of which are under contracts as part of Ireland’s renewable energy tariff system until at least 2023. The company now has an operational wind farm portfolio of 251 MW.
Paul O’Donnell, partner at Greencoat Renewables’ investment manager Greencoat Capital, said the Ballybane wind farm was a “very attractive asset with significant generating capacity.”
“The deal represents our fourth transaction with independent developers in 2018 and… further evidences the ongoing opportunity in Ireland’s secondary wind market,” he added.
Greencoat recently agreed a deal to purchase most of Coillte’s operating wind farms for €136.1m. It has embarked on something of a spending spree after a €270m IPO last year.
Since then it has raised a further €111m as part of an exercise that could see €250m raised in total. Wind assets are seen as attractive for long-term investors because they provide a steady income stream over what tend to be long power-supply contracts.
Source The Time