The transaction sees Downing Renewables enter a new geography within Sweden
Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust (DORE) is acquiring three Swedish hydropower plants and their associated storage reservoirs for a total investment of £5m (€5.9m).
The transaction offers a strategic opportunity to extend DORE’s portfolio into a new geographical area of SE3 within the Nordic country.
All three hydro plants, Hagby, Gyttorp and Hammarby, are located on the Norasjön River in the Örebro County in the SE3 price region in Sweden. Two of the plants – Gyttorp and Hagby – were built in 1946 and 1952 respectively and underwent extensive refurbishment in 2007. Hammarby was built in 1982 and recently underwent a significant upgrade.
Tom Williams, partner, head of energy and infrastructure at Downing LLP, said: “We are excited to expand our hydropower portfolio across the SE3 region in Sweden with the addition of these three new hydropower plants on the Norasjön River. Hydropower continues to be a key element of our investment strategy in Sweden and, by bringing these plants into DORE’s portfolio, we can benefit from cost efficiencies and our digitalisation and revenue optimisation programmes.”
The three hydropower plants all have storage facilities which will allow the portfolio “to benefit from an attractive revenue profile”, with a significant part of its production during the winter months, Williams added.
The combined expected annual average production of the three hydropower plants is around 7GW, with a potential increase of 0.5GW after further planned upgrades have taken place.
Once the transaction completes, the London-listed investment trust’s hydropower portfolio will have 37 assets with a forecast annual average production of around 222GW.
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