The Walney stake sale is part of SSE's divestment plan to dispose £2bn ($2.7bn) worth of assets by autumn of 2021
The Walney offshore wind farm features 102 units of 3.6MW Siemens Gamesa. (Credit: SSE.)
UK-based power utility SSE has agreed to sell its 25.1% non-operating stake in the 367MW Walney offshore wind farm to Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) for a total consideration of £350m ($467.1m).
Under the deal, UKW will acquire a total of more than 92MW of capacity from the wind farm after the completion process that is expected to take place shortly.
Located about 15km from the coastline of Walney Island, the Walney wind farm was built in two phases, which were commissioned in July 2011 and June 2012.
The offshore wind farm features 102 units of 3.6MW Siemens Gamesa wind turbines.
SSE said that the sale of is part of its divestment plan to dispose £2bn ($2.7bn) worth of assets by autumn of 2021, of which many of them will be non-core assets.
Walney offshore wind farm is owned by Ørsted, PGGM and SSE Renewables
UKW is planning to fund the deal using its acquisition facility, which was recently resized to £400m ($534m).
The Walney offshore wind farm is owned by Danish energy company Ørsted with 50.1% stake, Dutch pension fund PGGM (with 24.8% interest) and SSE Renewables holding the remaining stake.
SSE finance director Gregor Alexander said: “Walney has been a good financial investment for SSE but we see it as a non-core asset as we are not the principal operator.
“This transaction is a key first step in our £2bn asset disposal programme announced in June and will enable SSE to build out its £7.5bn low carbon investment programme over the next five years, helping the UK to reach net zero emissions, stimulating a green economic recovery and creating value for shareholders and society.”
Upon completion of the deal, SSE will have approximately 3.9GW of renewable generation capacity in its portfolio.
Currently, the company owns 50% stake in the 504MW Gabbard offshore wind farm and 40% share in 588MW Beatrice offshore wind farm
In July this year, UK’s energy regulator Ofgem has issued approval to SSE for the construction of the 600MW Shetland link, a HDVC transmission link connecting Shetland to Great Britain mainland.