Scotland in frame as Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust pumps millions into wind farm developments

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust has Scotland in its sights as it pumps millions of pounds into new wind farm developments.

The investment outfit has injected £2.5 million and has agreed to provide up to a further £7.5m in development funding for nine newly formed joint venture onshore wind farm development companies with Wind 2, a specialist UK onshore wind developer.

The joint ventures will initially target the development over the next five to ten years of up to nine onshore wind farms in Scotland and Wales with a potential combined capacity of about 570 megawatts.

ORIT’s investment, which is a co-investment alongside another fund managed by Octopus Renewables, provides preferential rights to fund the construction of the projects reaching ready to build stage.

The joint ventures will initially target the development over the next five to ten years of up to nine onshore wind farms in Scotland and Wales. Picture: John Devlin

Phil Austin, chairman of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust, said: “I am pleased to announce this partnership with Wind 2 to develop a significant amount of onshore wind farm capacity in the UK.

“This is an exciting move for ORIT which provides an opportunity to leverage the significant onshore wind development experience of the Wind 2 team and potentially generate a significant ready to build pipeline in the years to come.”

Octopus Renewables is a specialist clean energy investor. Launched in 2010 it has a “mission to accelerate the transition to a future powered by renewable energy”.

The company has a diverse portfolio of assets with a capacity in excess of 2.8 gigawatts, making it the largest commercial solar investor in Europe and a key investor in onshore wind.

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