SSE is to buy Fluor’s 50% stake in its Seagreen offshore wind joint venture for £118m.
Seagreen is located 15 miles east of Fife in the outer Firth of Forth. Consent to develop phase 1 – two 525MW wind farms – was granted in 2014. SSE plans to bump up the total to 1.5GW using bigger turbines.
The utility aims to bid for a subsidy for the wind farm via the contracts for difference auction expected next spring. After completing the acquisition from Fluor, SSE said it would review Seagreen’s ownership structure “with the view to maximising value for SSE shareholders”.
Last week Ørsted sold a 50% stake in its Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm, currently under construction, for £4.5bn.
The deal is subject to approval from the Crown Estate, which grants licences for offshore wind development. The firm hopes to gain consent for another 1.4GW in the Seagreen area, though that figure may also be revised upwards given technological advances.
The transaction takes SSE’s consented offshore wind portfolio to around 3950MW, including its stakes in the operational Walney (25%) and Greater Gabbard (50%) wind farms.
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