Phoenix Group has made its first wind farm investment by providing £27m (€31m) debt financing to help fund the acquisition of a 50% stake in an offshore wind farm, jointly owned by Ørsted and Danish pension funds PKA and PFA.
The UK consolidator of closed life and pension funds has invested the amount in the Walney extension project to assist with the construction and operation of the enlarged offshore wind farm, situated 45 miles north of Liverpool.
Late last year, green energy company, Ørsted signed an agreement to sell 50% of Walney Extension, a 659 megawatt UK offshore wind farm project to a consortium.
Scott Robertson the head of financial management group at Phoenix, said, “In the last 12 months Phoenix has continued to diversify our investment portfolio with such long-term investments in renewable energy, Local Authorities including Birmingham City Council and Equity Release Mortgages.”
Robertson said these investments provide a highly predictable and secure stream of long-term cash-flows to match the group’s pensioner liabilities.
“This investment marks an important first step for us in renewable energy and it particularly suits our ambitions. We hope to see further projects of this nature in the future.”
