A Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LSE:UKW) executive has commented on the positive impacts of recent storms that battered the UK on the company’s portfolio, and that it also expects to enjoy the tailwinds of surging inflation.
Storms Eunice and Frank last week led to wind at one point generating 45% of the UK’s energy requirements, compared with an annual average of less than 20%.
Stephen Lilley, founding partner at Greeencoat Wind, said this trend had helped drive income in the time after the earnings period announced today.
“Where you get named storms we generally produce a lot of power,” Lilley told Proactive, referring to recent storms Eunice and Franklin which brought winds of up to 122mph.
“So as we’re up to [storm] G now we’ve produced pretty well.
“Funnily enough, wind turbines are designed for wind so we’ve been producing a lot through the last few months and been well paid for it.”
Greencoat saw strong asset growth in 2021 as it embarked on acquisitions, £570mln worth of investments, and commissions designed to boost its portfolio.
The wind investment fund’s net asset value grew more than 38% to £3.09bn.
The company’s dividend scheme is designed to rise at the rate of the retail prices index (RPI), which hit 7.5% in December, meaning the group’s dividend rose from 7.18p to 7.2p. Lilley said rising inflation was likely to benefit the company’s power pricing this year.
“Because we structured the company quite conservatively, the last few years have been a bit about resilience, so we've coped with slightly lower production or slightly lower power pricing.
“But because of that conservative structure, we get into this year and we can cope with the twin themes of inflation and power pricing and deliver the product and start to differentiate away from our from some of our peers.”
Greencoat’s share price rose 1.18% to 142.2p.