Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LON:WIND) has agreed to acquire the Slieve Divena II wind farm from SSE Renewables for £51mln.
Slieve Divena II is located about 10 miles south-east of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, right next door to Greencoat's Slieve Divena wind farm.
It has a capacity of 18.8 megawatts (MW). It has been operational since June 2017 and receives 0.9 renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) per MW-hour and has a load factor of 31.3%.
Like the original Slieve Divena wind farm owned by Greencoat, Slieve Divena II will be managed by SSE Renewables. SSE Airtricity, which is SSE's retail brand in Northern Ireland, will take the electricity produced by the wind farm under a long-term power purchase agreement.
The acquisition was funded by Greencoat's acquisition facility plus reinvestment of portfolio cash of £24mln. Following the acquisition, the company's total borrowings will amount to £627mln, of which £27m is available through the revolving credit facility. The debt level is equivalent to 25% of Greencoat's gross asset value, which is comfortably within its gearing limit of 40%.
"We are delighted to acquire our eighth wind farm from SSE, which is testament to the long-standing relationship we have developed,” said Tim Ingram, the chairman of Greencoat.
“Slieve Divena II is a high quality, ROC-accredited asset sitting alongside our Slieve Divena wind farm and is a natural addition to our portfolio of operating UK wind farms, which now has a net generating capacity of almost 1GW ]gigawatt]," he added.