The stake was acquired from the consortium which includes investors such as Shell, Diamond Generating Europe (DGE), Eneco Group and Van Oord. The acquisition makes Partners Group the largest shareholder in the consortium with 45% interest.
Shell will now own 20% stake, DGE will have 15% interest, and Eneco and Van Oord will hold 10% stake each.
Before the acquisition, Shell held 40% interest, DGE owned 30% stake, Eneco held 20% and Van Oord held 10% of the stake in the wind farm.
Shell New Energies executive vice president Mark Gainsborough said: “We have consistently called for offshore wind energy at scale in North West Europe, and want to be an active player in this. We are bringing to bear our experience with large integrated projects at scale and expertise in working offshore. Bringing in Partners Group allows us to free up capital to invest in new projects in future.”
Partners Group private infrastructure europe senior vice president David Daum said: "Borssele is an attractive opportunity to invest in a high-quality offshore wind project alongside experienced partners.
“With the Dutch government committed to achieving 16% of its energy production from sustainable sources by 2023 as part of a National Renewable Energy Action Plan, we believe the project is both timely and critical in helping the country achieve that aim."
The wind farm will be located in 22km from the coast and will be spread across in an area of 122km² in the North Sea. It will include 77 of Vestas offshore wind turbines, each with a generating capacity of 9.5MW.
Grid connectivity for the project has also been secured and the construction is expected to begin in the second half of this year. Once completed and commissioned in 2021, the wind farm is expected to receive the Dutch offshore feed-in tariff for 16 years in total.
The wind farm is expected to generate about 3TWh of clean energy per annum, which is enough to be supplied to at least 825,000 Dutch households. It can also eliminate 105,0000 tons of CO2 and 24,600 tons of SO2 from entering the atmosphere every year.
Partners Group, partner and private infrastructure Europe head Brandon Prater said: "Renewable energy continues to be a transformative trend within the infrastructure asset class and an important component in the future energy security of many countries.
“In wind energy alone, Partners Group has committed to invest in onshore and offshore projects totaling over 1.8GW in Europe, Asia and Australia since 2011."
Shell and Eneco will each buy half of the power generated from the wind farm, once it starts operations.
Image: Partners acquires majority stake in Borssele III/IV wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Eneco 2018.
