Danish utility Dong Energy has entered into an agreement to sell a 24.8% stake in the 367MW Walney offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea to a consortium of PGGM, an administrative organization for collective pension schemes, and Dutch Ampere Equity Fund.
Dong will retain a 50.1% stake in the wind farm that is under construction and Scottish and Southern Energy will retain the 25.1% stake it acquired from Dong in December last year.
To acquire the stake, the consortium will pay to Dong a consideration of approximately £16m as well as its pro rata share of the construction costs.
The purchase price excludes payment for the transmission assets, which are in the future to be owned by a separate transmission operator.
Dong will be the leading partner in the remaining construction works related to the Walney wind farm, and has assumed certain specific obligations towards PGGM and Ampere Equity Fund relating to the final construction cost of the project and its timely completion.
Excluding the connection to the Great Britain electricity network, the cost of constructing the wind farm is expected to total approximately £1bn.
Dong provides interim financing to the consortium for the latter’s 24.8% share of the construction costs of the project, which the consortium expects to refinance with external project financing upon completion of the wind farm.
During the first 15 years of the operational phase of the project, Dong will acquire PGGM/Ampere share of the wind farm’s production through a long-term power purchase agreement, and sell the power and the environmental benefits made available by the British government (the ROCs and LECs) in the market.