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UTILITY WEEK | 14Th - 20Th NovEmbEr 2014 | 19 Finance & Investment This week SSE sells 25% stake in Beatrice windfarm Company says sale to fund manager is in line with its review of its offshore wind portfolio SSE is selling 25 per cent of its 750MW Beatrice offshore windfarm to fund manage- ment company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) for an undisclosed sum. Currently, SSE owns 75 per cent of Beatrice and project partner Repsol owns 25 per cent. The deal will not affect Repsol's holding. SSE said the move aligned with its "strategic review of its offshore wind portfolio". In March this year, SSE said it would step away from four major offshore wind projects with a total capacity of almost 12GW to "streamline and simplify" its business. At the same time the company said it would reduce its stake in the Beatrice project from 75 per cent to 50 per cent or less before committing itself to further development towards a final investment decision in early 2016. "While there is still a significant amount of work to be done, this latest milestone allows the project to con- tinue progressing towards a final investment decision in 2016," said project director Brian McFarlane. The sale comes four months aer the project received the green light from the European Commission to sign a fast-track financial support contract through the UK government's contracts for difference regime. "We will be working closely with Repsol, CIP and our supply chain partners to further reduce costs and refine the development and construction programme," McFarlane added. JA WaTEr Water operations boost Veolia results Good performance in Veolia's water operations has helped the company to a positive set of interim results. The French company has posted an Ebitda of €1,451 mil- lion for the first nine months of 2014, 15.7 per cent higher than the same period last year. Revenue at the water arm of the company grew by 3.4 per cent from €7,487.7 million in the first nine months of 2013 to €7,744 million in the same period this year. Veolia Environnement chair- man and chief executive Antoine Frerot, said: "Successful execu- tion of the group's strategy drove an increase in all of our financial indicators. The new organisation implemented in 2013 has driven improved performance and our cost reduction programme is proceeding as planned." ENErgY £200m boost for community schemes The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has set up a £200 million investment fund for community- scale renewable projects. This will be the first time the GIB has supported the commu- nity renewables sector aer the European Commission approved an expansion of its plans in May. The GIB will set up the fund with global investment firm KKR. Both will contribute £100 million to the scheme, which will be managed by investment manager Temporis Capital. Temporis said the first project supported by the fund is expected to have its loan agree- ment signed shortly and will be in Scotland. Projects funded under the scheme will consist mainly of hydroelectric and onshore wind schemes. ENErgY Drax to hit targets in tough market Independent generator Drax remains on course to meet its financial expectations for the year, despite challenging market conditions in the third quarter. The generator, which meets around 8 per cent of UK electric- ity demand, said the group's strong contracted position and "good operational performance" from its coal and biomass gener- ating units mean it is set to reach an Ebitda of £210-220 million by the end of the financial year. Drax said it has extended its contracted position for next year with extra power sales of more than 3TWh for 2015 compared to the position reported in July, bringing the 2015 total up to 15.6TWh. The company expects its third biomass conversion unit to be completed between July 2015 and June 2016. Offshore wind: SSE reducing its exposure Stock watch 930 850 870 890 910 NatioNal grid share price, 10 october - 7 November 10 Oct 20 Oct 27 Oct 3 Nov 7 Nov 1,000 800 600 400 200 NatioNal grid share price, 1996 - 2014 2002 1999 1996 2005 2008 2011 2014 National Grid shares reached an all-time high of 926 pence on 31 October and have remained at similar levels over the first week of November when it published its six-month financial results. The report shows it is on track to reach its full year financial targets, and included plans to move into a property development joint- venture with Berkeley Group. The share price is currently about 23 per cent higher than the lows seen last December, at 750.50 pence.