- Octopus hits $1bn in offshore wind assets in less than a year
- Comes as Octopus ups stake in UK offshore wind farm to 31%
- Marks Octopus’ 5th offshore wind farm deal since entering this space last year, with plans to rapidly accelerate its offshore wind activity in 2023
According to the company’s website news release on February 27, 2023, Octopus Energy’s generation arm hits $1bn in offshore wind investments in less than a year, with plans to rapidly scale investments.
It comes as Octopus further invests in the 270 MW Lincs offshore wind farm off the east coast of England, increasing Octopus’ stake in Lincs to 31%.
Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team previously managed a 23.25% stake in Lincs on behalf of the Sky fund (ORI SCSp) and Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT). This additional 7.75% stake has been acquired on behalf of Octopus’ Sky fund.
The Lincs wind farm is made up of 75 wind turbines across 35 square kilometres, generating enough clean power for 240,000 UK homes every year. This equates to taking nearly 200,000 petrol cars off the road and avoiding over 350,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year. It has been operational since 2013 and is operated by Ørsted.
Britain has 11 GW of offshore wind capacity - one of the highest in the world - with recent Government plans to speed up planning approvals for offshore wind farms.
Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest renewables investors, looking after nearly £6bn of green energy projects. Since entering into offshore wind last year, it is rapidly accelerating its investments in this area.
In the past 9 months, Octopus also acquired the Borssele V offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, partnered with Nest and GLIL to take a stake in the Hornsea One offshore wind farm, and increased its stake in innovative floating offshore wind developer Simply Blue.
Alex Brierley, Co-Head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team said: “We’ve been rapidly scaling our offshore wind activity, hitting $1bn in offshore wind investments - with much more to come this year. We first invested in the Lincs offshore wind farm with an initial stake last year so it’s brilliant to increase this to nearly a third.
“Britain is a world leader in offshore wind, with strong Government targets for new offshore wind farms. It’s crystal clear that offshore wind will continue to play an integral role in the UK’s energy security. There’s still huge untapped potential and strong investment appetite to scale this technology further to reduce our reliance on expensive fossil fuels.”
Notes to editors:
Press Contacts
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About Octopus Energy Generation
Octopus Energy Generation is driving the renewable energy agenda and building green power for the future. This means reshaping the market by leading the transition to a cleaner, greener future through renewable projects connected more deeply to customers and businesses.
As one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, its fund management specialist team launched in 2010 with a mission to accelerate the transition to a future powered by renewable energy. This team manages over 3 GW of renewable energy assets like wind and solar farms across 12 countries, worth nearly £6bn. These renewable projects generate enough green energy to power 2 million homes every year, and is the equivalent of taking over 1 million petrol cars off the road. The business also launched the Fan Club in the UK 2021, the world's first local energy tariff that provides cheaper, greener energy to customers living near local wind turbines when the wind blows, with a discount of up to 50%. Thousands of people have got in touch asking for the Fan Club in their community.
For more information, check out website.
About Octopus Energy Group
Octopus Energy Group is a global energy tech pioneer, launched in 2016 to use technology to unlock a customer focused and affordable green energy revolution. It is part of Octopus Group, which is a certified BCorp. With operations in 19 countries, Octopus Energy Group's mission is going global.
Octopus’s domestic energy arm already serves 4.9 million customers with cheaper greener power, through Octopus Energy, Bulb, Affect Energy, Ebico, London Power and Co-op Energy. Octopus Electric Vehicles is helping make clean transport cheaper and easier, and Octopus Energy Services is bringing smart products to thousands of homes. Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, managing a nearly £6 billion portfolio of renewable energy assets throughout the continent.
All of these are made possible by Octopus’s tech arm, Kraken Technologies, which offers a proprietary, in-house platform based on advanced data and machine learning capabilities, Kraken automates much of the energy supply chain to allow outstanding service and efficiency as the world transitions to a decentralised, decarbonised energy system. This technology has been licensed to support 30 million customer accounts worldwide, through deals with EDF Energy, Good Energy, E.ON energy and Origin Energy.
In December 2021, Octopus Energy Group was valued at approximately $5 billion following investments from Generation Investment Management and Canada Pensions Plan Investments Board. Both investors back businesses that drive sustainability, promote green energy and tackle climate change. It was the company’s third major investment round since launching to the market.
For more information, check out website.
