August 2019
Summary: Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&GPrudential, has agreed to acquire two pre-construction Finnish onshore wind farm projects, Kröpuln and Storbacken, from OX2, a leading European developer of large-scale wind farms.
Infracapital will acquire 100 per cent of the two onshore wind projects, consisting of 14 turbines with an estimated total production output of around 206 GWh per year, enough to power approximately 120,000 homes. OX2 will continue to act as the project’s asset manager throughout construction and operations under a bespoke engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. Construction will commence in the Autumn of 2019 with commercial operations anticipated to begin in Q4 2021.
This is Infracapital’s second investment in Finland, and the first project for Infracapital Greenfield Partners Fund I LP (“IGP I”) in the Nordics. The strategy of IGP I is to build, deliver and operate essential greenfield infrastructure to meet the changing needs of society and support long-term economic growth across Europe.
OX2 has developed more than 1,800 MW of wind power. Currently, OX2 is building 15 wind farms with a total of approximately 973 MW in the Nordic region, approximately 190 MW of which are in Finland.
This investment is a major step in addressing the investment requirement for sustainable energy in Finland, part of the efficient Nordic energy market. In Finland, renewable energy sources represent approximately 40 per cent of energy end-consumption. The Finnish Government’s National Energy and Climate Strategy to 2030 aims to increase the use of renewables to more than 50 per cent of energy end-consumption during the 2020s.
Michele Armanini, Managing Director at Infracapital, said:
“We are pleased to announce our first greenfield investment in Finland and the first onshore wind project for Infracapital Greenfield Partners Fund I. As a leading infrastructure investor, Infracapital is delighted to partner with Nordic developer OX2 in a project to deliver sustainable value to our investors, whilst making a material contribution to renewable energy in Finland.”
Paul Stormoen, CEO of OX2 said:
“We are very pleased to have established a good working relationship with Infracapital and are looking forward to our continued collaboration. With this contract included, we are now building six wind farms without subsidies in Finland, which shows that wind power will play a leading role in the transition to sustainable energy”
Klara Wennström, Transaction Manager at OX2
“Thanks to our strong local development team and good relationships with our sub-contractors, we have been able to optimise the wind farms so that we can deliver electricity at competitive prices completely without subsidies for a long time ahead.”