MARK WILLIAMSON
A London-based renewable energy investor has bought the Stroupster wind
farm in Caithness in an £85m deal and underlined its appetite for more
acquisitions in spite of cuts in official support for renewable energy
schemes.
Greencoat UK Wind has acquired Stroupster from Bay Wa a month after the
German group finished commissioning the wind farm, which lies around 10
miles north of Wick.
The investment company said Stroupster was a high quality addition to its
portfolio, which is notable for its Scottish content.
Greencoat UK Wind has a portfolio of 17 wind farms in the UK, including six
in Scotland.
The chairman of the company Tim Ingram said it continues to pursue other
near term acquisition opportunities. It is understood to be interested in
buying more wind farms in Scotland.
In September last year Steve Lilley, a partner in the fund that manages
Greencoat UK Wind, underlined the company’s enthusiasm for Scotland. He
noted the country is blessed with the kind of weather conditions that are
best for generating wind power.
Greencoat UK Wind has agreed to buy Stroupster weeks after the UK
Government said new wind farms would be excluded from the Renewables
Obligation subsidy scheme from April 2016.
A spokesman for Greencoat UK Wind said: “We invest in already-operating UK
wind farms which are completely unaffected by the changes. There remains a
huge pool of such wind assets built or in construction that we could
acquire. As such, we remain very happy that the outlook for investment
opportunities in UK wind farms is encouraging.”
The Stroupster wind farm has 13 turbines and a capacity of 29.9 megawatts.
It can sell output to utility companies at a set price under the Renewables
Obligation Certificates scheme.
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