Ocean Winds to sell stake in one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms

Ocean Winds has agreed to sell a minority stake in a 950MW offshore wind farm that is one of the largest in Scotland to UK investor Equitix.

Equitix announced today (Monday) that it has bought a 16.6% stake in the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm from Ocean Winds, a joint venture between Spain’s EDP Renewables and France’s Engie.

Ocean Winds maintains a 40% stake in the wind farm and will continue to manage its daily operations.

Moray East, which can power over 1.4 million homes, won a UK contract-for-difference deal in 2017 at a rate of £57.50/MWh ($75.80/MWh at 2012 prices).

Ocean Winds said the deal “emphasises both firms’ commitment to accelerating the global shift towards cleaner and more environmentally responsible energy sources," while allowing it to continue investing in an additional 5GW of offshore wind projects in Scotland.

“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,” he said.

Achal Bhuwania, Equitix’s chief investment officer, said: “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,” he said.

Earlier this year, Equitix bought stakes in eight offshore wind farms around the UK from Macquarie Asset Management.