Octopus Renewables, part of Octopus Group, has agreed to acquire nine wind farms across France, the UK and Ireland in two deals totalling over EUR100 million with global renewable energy company RES.
The wind farms are a mix of operational and construction-ready facilities across England, Wales, Ireland and France, totalling 130MW. Six of the wind farms are in France, signalling further confidence in the French market as a key location for renewable energy assets.
The two acquisitions represent an addition to Octopus’s considerable European renewables portfolio. Octopus is the UK’s largest non-utility investor in onshore renewables and largest commercial solar energy investor in Europe.
Within the two deals, the acquisition of a wind farm in Ireland also represents Octopus’s first entry into the Irish market. This means that Octopus now owns onshore wind assets in four countries across Europe, providing further diversification for its investors.
RES will continue to handle the construction, asset management and operation and maintenance of the wind farms, in line with the ambitious development of its support services.
Octopus and RES are also actively exploring the possibility of repowering a number of the sites in France, while also considering the potential to repower other sites across the portfolio.
The deals bring the number of transactions between Octopus and RES to five, cementing a relationship which has been ongoing since 2015.
Alex Brierley, Co-Head of Octopus Renewables, says: “This is a further stride for Octopus into the European wind market, mirroring our strength in solar. With these assets, we’ve significantly expanded our onshore wind footprint in France, which continues to be highly attractive as a destination for investment in renewable energy. Likewise, the favourable support regime in Ireland and the potential for further renewable capacity made it a natural target market for us.
“RES’s experience in the French market for over 20 years has been invaluable. We pride ourselves on developing strong relationships with co-developers and we’re looking forward to working with RES to explore repowering the operational French assets we’ve acquired, taking advantage of a favourable regulatory environment.”
Richard Russell, Group Commercial Director at RES, says: “RES is proud to announce the completion of this transaction with Octopus, with whom we have built a solid relationship over the last 5 years, both in the UK and France. RES supports over 5.5GW of operational assets across the globe – working with partners such as Octopus who are committed, like us, to a zero-carbon future.”
The acquisitions bring Octopus’s total portfolio of onshore wind in operation and construction to over 470MW across 21 sites.
