Octopus acquires stake in 660 MW British wind farm

Octopus has taken a 12.5% stake in the 660 MW wind farm, which is among the world’s top 10 largest wind farms.

The wind farm is made up of 87 turbines – each taller than the 158 m high Blackpool tower. It has been operational since 2018 and produces clean power for nearly 600 000 homes.

It is located in the Irish Sea off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness in the north west of England, amongst a cluster of offshore wind farms in an area with strong wind resources.

The deal marks the sixth offshore wind farm Octopus has invested in since last year. It has backed Hornsea One and Lincs in the UK as well as two offshore wind farms in the Netherlands and one in Germany just weeks ago.

This latest investment was made by the newly launched £3 billion Octopus Energy Offshore Wind fund - set up with a cornerstone investment from Tokyo Gas – and the Sky fund (ORI SCsp), both managed by Octopus Energy Generation.

It follows fast on the heels of Octopus’ plans to unleash £15 billion into this sector and unlock this clean energy for millions of homes globally by 2030.

The UK is one of largest offshore wind markets - second in the world after China. The country already has 14 GW of offshore wind, with plans to increase this to 50 GW by 2030.

“The future for offshore wind is here and now - and just this year, wind power overtook gas in Britain. The UK is already a world leader in offshore wind and we’re confident this secure and home-grown energy source will play an even bigger role in the country's energy mix. We’re overjoyed to make this investment after we recently announced our Offshore Wind Fund, and we’ll continue to rapidly scale our offshore wind activity globally,” said Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation.

As well as investing in operational projects, Octopus is also driving the creation of new offshore wind energy around the world. Previous deals include investments in wind farm developers with projects in countries including Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Spain, South Korea and more.

Octopus bought the stake in Walney Extension from AIP Management, the investment manager for Danish pension fund PKA and PFA.

 

 

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