Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH FEBRUARY 2019 | 17 This week Greencoat buys into two SSE windfarms SSE sells 49.9% stake in two windfarms to investment company and pension fund Greencoat UK Wind has announced it has secured agree- ments to acquire a 35.5 per cent stake in SSE's Stronelairg and Dunmaglass windfarms. A UK pension fund managed by Greencoat Capital will also acquire a 14.4 per cent stake. Greencoat UK Wind will acquire a net 35.5 per cent stake in the windfarms for a consideration of £452 million (including cash and working capital), and the managed account will acquire a net 14.4 per cent for £183 million. SSE will hold the remaining 50.1 per cent. The 66-turbine Stronelairg windfarm, near Fort Augustus in Scotland, has an installed generating capac- ity of 228MW. It was commissioned last December and has a load factor of 43 per cent. Dunmaglass is 15 miles south of Inverness and has an installed generating capacity of 94MW. The 33-turbine windfarm was commissioned in December 2017 and has a load factor of 44 per cent. SSE will continue to operate both windfarms, with Vestas and General Electric providing turbine opera- tion and maintenance for Stronelairg and Dunma- glass respectively. Tim Ingram, chairman of Greencoat UK Wind, said: "I am delighted to announce the acquisition of these two high load factor, ROC-accredited windfarms, which will deliver attractive investment returns. This transaction builds on our longstanding relationship with SSE, and we are delighted to be co-investing with a major UK pen- sion fund partner." AJ ENERGY C-Capture hooks equity funding C-Capture has secured £3.5 mil- lion of equity funding from Drax, BP Ventures and IP Group to fur- ther develop its carbon capture technology and undertake new and larger pilot projects. The company is already conducting a demonstration at Drax's power station in North Yorkshire with the aim of gen- erating negative emissions by combining carbon capture and storage with biomass. "We are looking carefully at the broader market for our car- bon capture technology, which includes not just power genera- tion but also the production of cement, steel and aluminium, as well as biogas," said C-Capture chairman Tristan Fischer. C-Capture claims its propri- etary solvents for extracting carbon dioxide from flue gases offer a cheaper and safer alterna- tive to technologies based on the use of amines. ELECTRICITY Grid hands out Hinkley contracts National Grid has awarded a trio of construction contracts worth £300 million to connect the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to the transmission net- work with a 400kV power line stretching for 57km. Balfour Beatty won the con- tract to build the new T pylons, Siemens will build a new substa- tion at Sandford, and J Murphy and Sons will install a 132kV underground cable. Sue Adam, director of the Hinkley connection project at National Grid, said: "The award of these contracts marks a major step forward on this vital con- nection project. It means we will now be able to gear up to start construction work in earnest." ENERGY Octopus posts loss amid rapid growth Octopus Energy has reported a £5 million operating loss despite "rapid growth" in both customer numbers and turnover. The figure for the 12 months to the end of April 2018 is an improvement on a £6.3 million loss the previous year. On a gross basis, Octopus turned a £1.2 million loss into a £5.8 mil- lion profit as company revenues nearly tripled from £35 million to £129 million. Octopus now has half a mil- lion customers a§er acquiring 95,000 from Iresa as the supplier of last resort in July. Octopus founder and chief executive Greg Jackson, said: "In only our second full year of trad- ing, we have seen rapid growth… We have also shown it's possible to scale rapidly while giving unparalleled customer service." Dunmaglass windfarm has a 44% load factor Finance & Investment Stock watch 800 750 700 650 600 550 PENNON SHARE PRICE, FIVE DAY Jun 2018 Oct 2018 Feb 2019 PENNON SHARE PRICE, ONE YEAR The three publicly listed water companies – Severn Trent, United Utilities and Pennon Group – have all seen a boost to their share price aer their business plans for PR19 were fast-tracked in the Ofwat initial assessment published on 31 January (see analysis on p12). Pennon Group shares initially rose more than 2 per cent to 773p in the wake of the announcement before quickly dropping back down to 763p. 775 770 765 760 755 750 31 Jan 1 Feb 4 Feb 5 Feb pence pence

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