Octopus inks Dutch deal as it stretches tentacles across Europe
The generation arm of Octopus has stretched its tentacles into another country, expanding its presence across Europe with the acquisition of two massive wind turbines in Netherlands.
Octopus Energy Generation has acquired the Borssele V offshore wind farm, operated by Eneco, a 19 MW site which is home to two large Vestas wind turbines – each as tall as the Gherkin building in London – located in the Dutch North Sea.
It bought the Borssele V farm from a consortium of sellers including Van Oord.
These are the largest turbines in Octopus’ portfolio – and are part of the Borssele wind farm zone which is made up of five wind farms with a combined total capacity of 1.5GW.
The wind farm creates enough energy to power 25,000 homes a year, offsetting 16,000 tonnes of carbon emissions – the same as taking 10,000 petrol cars off the road.
Dutch green energy company Vandebron is the offtaker, and will supply the green power generated by the wind farm to customers in the Netherlands.
This follows its first wind farm investment in Germany earlier this month, with the supplier now operating retail or generation assets in 14 countries.
It also comes after its fund management team acquired a stake in the 270 MW Lincs offshore wind farm off the east coast of England, on behalf of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT).
Offshore wind is a core component of European governments’ energy security plans.
The Netherlands is Europe’s third largest offshore wind market after the UK and Germany – and plans to double its offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Zoisa North-Bond, chief executive of Octopus Energy Generation, comments: “We’re expanding green power across Europe and over the next decade we see ourselves rapidly accelerating our investments in renewables. It’s brilliant to have entered the Dutch renewables market so soon after our first wind energy deal in Germany.”
Matt Setchell, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team said: “Offshore wind is a critical part of the energy transition and it’s also an increasingly important part of what we will be doing as a fund management business. We’ll be bringing investors access to many more of these types of opportunities over the coming months and years as we continue to grow our specialist team around the world to deliver this.”
Octopus Energy Generation now manages 3 GW of renewable energy assets across Europe.
he company is stepping up its generation capabilities and is planning to create 18 GW of green energy generation projects across the world by 2027.