Offshore Wind Fund and UK GIB acquire stake in offshore wind farm

The Green Investment Bank Offshore Wind Fund has announced its most recent acquisition of a 44% stake in the Lincs offshore wind farm alongside the 31% stake acquired by UK Green Investment Bank plc.

The stake was bought for £429 million (US$517 million) by the fund and for £302 million (US$364 million) by the GIB from Centrica and Siemens Project Ventures. As part of this transaction, DONG Energy, owner of the remaining 25%, has agreed with GIB to take over the operatorship of Lincs from Centrica for 15 years beginning after a 12-month transitional period post sale completion.

The fund is managed by GIB Financial Services Limited and is an FCA-regulated and wholly-owned subsidiary of the GIB. The fund is the first in the world to be dedicated solely to investments in offshore wind power generation and provides long-term institutional investors with the opportunity to access the UK’s green infrastructure sector. 

The fund manager now has assets under management of £1.12 billion (US$1.35 billion).

Since its launch, the fund has been successful in attracting new investors to offshore wind. Investors in the fund include five UK local authority pension funds including Strathclyde Pension Fund.

Lincs is a 270 MW offshore wind farm, located 8 km off the Lincolnshire Coast at Skegness, and is comprised of 75 Siemens 3.6 MW turbines. The wind farm has been operating since 2013. Centrica will continue to provide operations and maintenance support to the wind farm for a 12 month transitional period from completion of the transaction, following which DONG Energy will take over operations and maintenance support.