Greencoat Renewables invests up to €35m in first Irish solar deal

Dublin-listed Greencoat Renewables has agreed to buy a 50 per cent stake in a solar farm being developed in Co Meath for an estimated price of up to €35 million, marking its first Irish investment in sun-powered assets.

The remaining stake is being acquired by a pension fund investing through a portfolio managed by Greencoat Capital, the London-based renewable energy asset manager that set up Greencoat Renewables and acts as its investment manager.

The solar farm, which will be able to generate 80.5 megawatts of power at peak output, is being developed by the Irish unit of Norwegian energy giant Statkraft and will be operational in the final months of 2023.

While the Greencoat Renewables statement did not give a value for the deal, Davy analyst Michael Mitchell said in a note to clients that he understood the consideration for 100 per cent of the asset was €65 million-€70 million.

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“The transaction is structured under a forward sale model and will only complete once the solar farm is fully operational,” Greencoat Renewables said. “Statkraft will finance and manage the construction of the solar farm and will continue to provide management services once operational.”

Greencoat Capital carried out an initial public offering (IPO) of Greencoat Renewables in 2017, attracting the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and AIB as key anchor investors.

Last year, the company’s investments in wind farms in Ireland, France and Sweden generated 1,522 gigawatt hours of electricity. It also entered deals last year to buy a wind farm in Finland and a solar farm in Spain under another forward sale.

The company has continued on the acquisition trail this year. It raised €281.5 million through a share sale in early April and announced days later that it was buying a 50 per cent of the so-called Borkum Riffgrund 1 offshore wind farm in Germany for about €350 million.