Octopus Energy invests $1bn in offshore wind
Octopus Energy’s generation arm hits $1bn in offshore wind investments in less than a year, with plans to rapidly scale investments.
It comes as Octopus further invests in the 270 MW Lincs offshore wind farm off the east coast of England, increasing Octopus’ stake in Lincs to 31%.
Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team previously managed a 23.25% stake in Lincs on behalf of the Sky fund (ORI SCSp) and Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT). This additional 7.75% stake has been acquired on behalf of Octopus’ Sky fund.
The Lincs wind farm is made up of 75 wind turbines across 35 square kilometres, generating enough clean power for 240,000 UK homes every year. This equates to taking nearly 200,000 petrol cars off the road and avoiding over 350,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. It has been operational since 2013 and is operated by Ørsted.
Britain has 11 GW of offshore wind capacity – one of the highest in the world – with recent Government plans to speed up planning approvals for offshore wind farms.
Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest renewables investors, looking after nearly £6bn of green energy projects. Since entering into offshore wind last year, it is rapidly accelerating its investments in this area.
In the past 9 months, Octopus also acquired the Borssele V offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, partnered with Nest and GLIL to take a stake in the Hornsea One offshore wind farm, and increased its stake in innovative floating offshore wind developer Simply Blue.
Alex Brierley, Co-Head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team said: “We’ve been rapidly scaling our offshore wind activity, hitting $1bn in offshore wind investments – with much more to come this year. We first invested in the Lincs offshore wind farm with an initial stake last year so it’s brilliant to increase this to nearly a third.
“Britain is a world leader in offshore wind, with strong Government targets for new offshore wind farms. It’s crystal clear that offshore wind will continue to play an integral role in the UK’s energy security. There’s still huge untapped potential and strong investment appetite to scale this technology further to reduce our reliance on expensive fossil fuels.”
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