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Once the deal is approved, Greencoat will have a 45pc stake in the Butendiek windfarm, as the energy investor expands its presence in Europe.
Dublin-headquartered energy investor Greencoat Renewables is doubling its stake in a German offshore windfarm, at a cost of roughly €168m.
The company is increasing its ownership of the Butendiek windfarm, which is located in Germany’s exclusive economic zone in the North Sea. It consists of 80 Siemens 3.6MW turbines which have been operational since 2015.
Greencoat Renewables originally bought a 22.5pc stake in this windfarm at the start of 2023 and now seeks to double its ownership. The stake is being bought from an affiliate of Siemens Pension Trust.
The deal is expected to close in November 2023, subject to regulatory approval. Greencoat plans to invest €122m, with the rest of the funding coming from Schroders Greencoat LLP, a specialist manager that manages Greencoat.
Greencoat said the Butendiek windfarm recently entered into a power purchase agreement with a large multinational, to give 62.5pc of its output for a period of six and a half years.
While Greencoat was initially focused on acquiring and managing wind farms across Ireland, it has substantially increased its presence in Europe over the past few years.
In April 2021, Greencoat acquired the Glencarbry windfarm in Co Tipperary, while in February of the same year it entered the Nordic market by acquiring a Finnish windfarm for around €60m.
In April 2022, it struck a deal to acquire 50pc of German offshore windfarm Borkum Riffgrund 1. The acquisition was announced days after Greencoat raised €281.5m in an oversubscribed round to fund investment plans in Ireland and continental European markets.
In August, the Dublin company further expanded its presence in the European market with the acquisition of the 50MW Andella wind farm in Spain.
The company is still focused on the Irish wind sector, however. Last month, Greencoat signed a long-term strategic agreement with FuturEnergy Ireland, a joint venture of ESB and Coillte.
The Dublin energy company expects to invest more than €1bn of enterprise value into projects under this framework agreement by 2030.
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