Ørsted has agreed to divest its remaining 25% stake in the 630MW London Array offshore wind farm in the UK to funds managed by specialist asset manager Schroders Greencoat in a deal valued at £717m.
Located 20km off the coast of northern Kent in the Outer Thames Estuary, the London Array project started commercial operation in 2013.
The offshore wind facility, through its 175 Siemens 3.6MW turbines, produces sufficient renewable energy to power about 500,000 British households and reduces nearly 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Initially, Ørsted owned a 50% stake in the London Array offshore wind farm before selling 25% of that to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in 2014.
The Danish energy company does not have operations and maintenance responsibility at the London Array project.
Other shareholders of the offshore wind facility are RWE and Masdar with 30% and 20% stakes, respectively.
Ørsted chief financial officer Daniel Lerup said: “We’re very pleased to have found a strong new owner for our remaining minority interest in London Array.
“We continue to see significant appetite for offshore wind as an asset class, and with this divestment, we continue our unrivalled track record of efficiently recycling capital to help fund our DKK 475 billion investment programme towards 2030.”
Ørsted said that the proceeds generated from the transaction will be included in the category of ‘EBITDA from new partnerships’.
The transaction is anticipated to be complete by the end of this month.
Earlier this month, Ørsted and PGE signed key contracts for the 1.5GW Baltica 2 offshore wind farm in Poland with Navantia-Windar and Orient Cable (NBO) for the supply of foundations and array cables.
