Ocean Winds has agreed to sell a minority stake of the 950 MW Moray East Offshore Wind Farm to funds managed by Equitix Investment Management Ltd (“Equitix”) to further invest in offshore wind development.
Located in the Moray Firth region and in operation since 2022, the Moray East offshore wind farm generates clean energy for more than 1.43 million Scottish households and is operated from its base in Fraserburgh, managed by Ocean Winds.
Ocean Winds, an international company dedicated to offshore wind energy, created as a 50-50 joint venture in 2020 by EDP Renewables and ENGIE, announces the sale of a 16.6% of its majority stake in its operating Moray East Offshore Wind Farm, to Equitix. Equitix is an international investor, developer, and fund manager of core infrastructure assets and a leader in providing UK renewable energy. This transaction emphasises both firms’ commitment to accelerating the global shift towards cleaner and more environmentally responsible energy sources, whilst allowing Ocean Winds to continue investing in its additional 5GW of offshore wind projects in Scotland.
“The successful sale of shares in the Moray East project stands as a testament to the feasibility and impact of offshore wind projects. Ocean Winds is resolute in our commitment to delivering on our promises of development of offshore wind energy in the United Kingdom and this will allow us to keep on investing in the region. With the ongoing construction of Moray West and the development of the Caledonia project, Ocean Winds is multiplying the capacity of the Moray Firth region to generate close to 4 GW of clean energy from offshore wind and unlocking key opportunities for supply chain and local communities”, says Adam Morrison, Ocean Winds’ Country Manager for UK.
“We are proud to be making further investment into renewable energy in the UK, adding to our growing fleet of offshore wind, which now comprises a position in a third of the total UK installed offshore wind capacity. Making a material contribution to the UK’s energy transition and Net Zero ambitions forms an integral part of our strategic ambitions and partnering with Ocean Winds at Moray East helps us to reach this shared goal”, says Achal Bhuwania, Equitix’s Chief Investment Officer.
Ocean Winds will continue to manage the daily operations of the Moray East project from its Operations and Maintenance base in Fraserburgh and post the transaction will hold a 40% stake in Moray East.
Completion of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions.
For this transaction, HSBC Bank plc acted as financial advisor to OW, and CMS LLP acted as its legal counsel. Ashurst acted as legal counsel to Equitix.
Moray East Project Statistics
- Installed capacity: 950 MW
- Location: UK, Moray Firth, closest point to shore, 22km from shore.
- Turbines: 100 V164 – 9.5MW
- Power for average requirements of ca. 1.43 million homes
- Moray East generates sufficient electricity to save 1.4 million tonnes CO? equivalent annually (assuming displacement of gas generation)
- Moray Offshore Windfarm East Ltd (MOWEL), is a joint venture company that post the transaction will be owned by Ocean Winds (40%) Diamond Green Limited (33.4%), Equitix (16.6%) and CTG (10%).
About?Ocean Winds
Ocean Winds (OW) is an international company dedicated to offshore wind energy and created as a 50-50 joint venture, owned by EDP Renewables and ENGIE. Based on our belief that offshore wind energy is an essential part of the global energy transition, we develop, finance, build and operate offshore wind farm projects all around the world.
When EDP and ENGIE combined their offshore wind assets and project pipeline to create OW in 2019, the company had a total of 1.5 GW under construction and 4.0 GW under development; OW has been adding rapidly to that portfolio and is now on a trajectory to reach the 2025 target of 5 to 7 GW of projects in operation, or construction, and 5 to 10 GW under advanced development. In 2022, OW’s offshore wind gross capacity already operating, contracted or with grid connection rights granted reaches 16.6 GW.
In the United-Kingdom, OW’s portfolio totals 6.1GW, positioning it as one of the leading developers in the UK market.
- Moray East – 950MW – Scotland’s largest fully operational offshore wind farm.
- Moray West – 882MW – now under construction.
- Caledonia – 2,000MW – An offshore wind project featuring fixed and floating foundations adjacent to the existing Moray Firth projects which was awarded in the ScotWind leasing round and developed 100% by OW.
- Arven – 2,300MW – A floating offshore wind project east of Shetland in partnership with Mainstream Renewable Power awarded as part of the ScotWind Clearing leasing round.
More information: https://www.oceanwinds.com/media/
Equitix is a responsible investor, developer and manager in infrastructure, established in the UK in 2007 with over £10bn of AUM. Equitix has been investing directly into clean energy for over a decade, with over £2.5bn invested into carbon-reducing, renewable power-generating projects now providing 39% of the UK’s installed offshore wind capacity.. Equitix is committed to supporting the NetZero agenda and providing critical infrastructure and services to help local communities flourish. Equitix: bringing infrastructure to life www.equitix.com
Media contact: equitix@teneo.com
