Utility Week

22 | 12TH - 18TH JANUARY 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Finance & Investment This week Investors snap up 40 per cent of windfarm TRIG and Equitix pay £558 million for a stake in Statkraft's Sheringham Shoal offshore windfarm The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) and Equitix have completed the purchase of a 40 per cent stake in Sheringham Shoal offshore windfarm in a deal worth £558 million. The investors have acquired shares of 14.7 per cent and 25.3 per cent respectively from the Norwegian state-owned power company Statkra. The windfarm features 88 turbines, with a combined capacity of 316.8MW, located between nine and 17 miles off the coast of Norfolk. It was commissioned in 2012 and is subsidised through the Renewables Obligation scheme. TRIG's £80 million investment represents its first in the offshore wind sector, adding 47MW to the total capacity of its portfolio, which now standards at roughly 820MW. The company holds stakes in 57 projects in the UK, France and the Republic of Ireland. The deal was first announced in mid-December. Equitix manages a 2.1GW portfolio of transmission and generation assets, which includes investments in solar and onshore wind. Norway's state-owned oil company, Statoil, owns a 40 per cent stake in Sheringham Shoal, while the Green Investment Group managed by Australian bank Mac- quarie holds the remaining 20 per cent. Shortly before Christmas, Statkra concluded its planned exit from the offshore wind sector with the sale of its 30 per cent interest in the Dudgeon offshore windfarm to a consortium of investors led by China Resources, for £555 million. TG ELECTRICITY Drax seeks views on new power station Drax will launch a public consultation later this month on revised plans to build a 299MW open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power station near Swansea. If approved, the £100 million site could generate power for up to 150,000 homes. Local residents were origi- nally consulted in 2014, but the project was shelved in 2015 because of market uncertainty. The process is being relaunched aer Drax Group acquired the development last year. Drax Power chief executive Andy Koss said: "We have made a number of changes to the origi- nal proposals. For example, the cable for the electrical connec- tion has been put underground instead of having an overhead line; we have selected an access route from the B4489 to the west of the site; and reduced the num- ber of stacks from five to one." ELECTRICITY Chargemaster set for £170m flotation The company running Britain's largest network of electric vehicle chargers is planning to float on the London Stock Exchange in the summer, Sky News has reported. Chargemaster owns and operates the Polar network of more than 6,000 public charging points and also supplies charg- ers to homes and businesses. The firm has reportedly appointed stockbroker Cenkos Securities to oversee an initial public offering in June aiming to raise £50 million from investors. Sources with knowledge of the plans told Sky News the flotation would value the business at £170 million. A spokesman for Charge- master declined to comment. ELECTRICITY EDF: 'copy Hinkley design to save costs' EDF has claimed it can slash nuclear costs by "copying and pasting" parts of the design for the Hinkley Point C power station currently under construction in Somerset, The Times has reported. Hinkley is currently projected to cost £19.6 billion, with the price rising to as much as £20.3 billion if completion is delayed from 2025 to 2027. EDF is developing plans for a sister plant at the Sizewell C in Suffolk and, according to The Times, the company thinks this "second of a kind" power station could be built for £5 billion less than the original. EDF believes it can eliminate the majority of the £2 billion pre- construction costs of Hinkley, the paper reported, and billions more could be saved by reusing contractors and equipment. EDF declined to comment. Sheringham Shoal: 88 turbines off Norfolk coast Stock watch 2,600 2,400 2,200 2,000 ROYAL DUTCH SHELL SHARE PRICE, ONE MONTH Mar 17 May 17 Jul 17 Sep 17 Nov 17 ROYAL DUTCH SHELL SHARE PRICE, 12 MONTHS Shares in Royal Dutch Shell saw little change as the group announced its acquisition of 100 per cent of First Utility on 21 December 2017, for an undisclosed sum. As of 8:37am on 21 December, shares stood at 2,455.00 pence, rising to 2,471.50p the following day. Shares have since been trending upwards, and stood at 2,558.50p at 9:30am on Tuesday 9 January. Shell's shares have increased their value by a little over 10 per cent over the past year. 2,600 2,550 2,500 2,450 2,400 12 Dec 19 Dec 27 Dec 2 Jan 9 Jan Jan 18

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