Leading renewable energy and infrastructure consultancy, Natural Power has advised NTR on the 200MW acquisition of operational and pre-construction onshore wind projects in Sweden and Finland that has been added to the NTR Renewable Energy Income Fund II. Total capital invested by NTR in the portfolio is expected to be in excess of €180 million. NTR acquired the portfolio projects, called Vindin, from a consortium of Swedish industrial companies.
Natural Power attended all sites individually and provided pre-construction yield analysis alongside turbine inspections for the operational projects. The detailed due diligence review included turbine service agreements, asset management agreements, grid connection agreements (including grid concession), power purchase agreements, turbine technology, project permits, EIA, and forecasted operational expenditure. Natural Power also advised on an outline construction programme and assessment of development risks for the pre-construction project.
Marc Lamphiere, Country Director of Natural Power Ireland, said: “During the course of the past few years, we have been increasingly active in supporting clients across the Nordic region by providing pre-construction, construction and advisory services. We are delighted to bring our technical advisory experience to bear in supporting the Vindin portfolio acquisition on behalf of NTR, and in supporting its first entry into the region. We have now supported NTR in six countries as it continues to grow its European footprint. The Vindin assets represent a high-quality addition to the existing portfolio.”
Giles Dearden, Director of Due Diligence at Natural Power, said: “We are delighted for NTR on the success of its acquisition. In the last 18 months Natural Power has carried out more than 3GW of transaction advisory and energy yield analysis across the Nordic’s often accommodating complex route to market contracts, volume hedging analysis, weather risk and some of the largest wind turbines deployed in Europe.”
“Sweden and Finland represent exciting new geographies for the fund, each having ambitious renewable energy targets and a stable economic outlook;” said Manus O’Donnell, Chief Investment Officer of NTR. “This portfolio of projects provides an attractive mix across the development life-cycle, in line with our fund’s strategy to complement projects in development with those already up and running.”
The portfolio comprises three operational projects totalling 94MW and one advanced stage development cluster totalling a potential 108 MW capacity in southern Sweden. The three operational projects, Trattberget (69MW) located in the Örnsköldsvik municipality in northern Sweden; Skutskär (10MW) based at the Swedish town’s port in Medora Bay; and Svalskulla (15MW), located in the Ostrobothnia region of Finland, came into operation at various dates between 2009 and 2014. NTR expects to bring the development project cluster, Norra-Vedbo, into operation in 2021.
NTR will put in place long-term power price contracts for the Swedish projects, for which there is considerable demand, given the scale of the portfolio. Svalskulla, the 15MW project located in Finland, benefits from the Feed-In-Tariff programme supported by the Finnish Government. The projects will be financed with project finance debt.
About NTR
NTR is a sustainable infrastructure investor and asset manager that acquires, constructs and manages renewable energy projects. NTR has constructed and operated 2GW of wind projects and 630 MW of solar projects across Europe and the US.
Its first fund, NTR Wind 1 LP, was launched in 2015 to invest in pre-construction onshore wind projects in Ireland and the UK. Its second sustainable infrastructure fund, NTR Renewable Energy Income Fund II, is targeting €500 million and invests in both pre-construction and operational onshore wind and solar projects across a number of European markets, together with energy storage that is associated with the wind and solar projects owned by the fund. NTR recently announced securing first close commitments of €229 million. www.ntrplc.com
About Natural Power
Natural Power is a leading independent renewable energy and infrastructure consultancy that employs 350 staff globally. The company offers proactive and integrated consultancy, management and due diligence services, backed by an innovative product range, across the onshore wind, offshore wind, wave, tidal, renewable heat, solar pv and hydro sectors, whilst maintaining a strong outlook on other new and emerging renewable energy sectors.
