Mainstream Renewable Power Exiting Offshore Wind

In its annual results for 2015, Mainstream Renewable Power marked the sale of the Hornsea Project One to DONG Energy in Q1 2015 as part of its strategy to exit the offshore wind market.

The company, which reported a profit after tax of € 96.0 million in 2015 (compared to a loss of € 46.6 million in 2014), sold the offshore wind project for total consideration of approx. € 105 million.

Mainstream has two other offshore wind projects in its portfolio.

Up to 1,200MW of capacity had been planned to be developed across the Horizont I, II and II projects, located around 125km off the island of Sylt in the German North Sea, but Mainstream discontinued the active development of the Horizont projects saying they were unable to obtain support from the German Government’s support regime. The latest information from the company said the situation will be monitored in the event of any changes in the regime.

In the UK, Mainstream received both onshore and offshore consents 450MW Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm, with supplier contracts and grid connection in place. In 2015, the project secured a Contract for Difference, and at the beginning of this year, Mainstream Renewable Power said it in exclusive discussions with a consortium led by the power company InterGen to take the offshore wind farm to financial close and into construction. However, in February of this year, the progress was said to be jeopardized by a judicial review requested by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) last year.

In its outlook for the current financial year, Mainstream Renewable Power, the developer of wind and solar energy projects, said it expanded its activities into Central America and Asia-Pacific with plans to develop portfolios of scale in both regions. The company added that it is now in the process of raising capital of at least € 100 million from one or more investors to support its expansion across renewable energy markets in South America, Africa and South East Asia.

Eddie O’Connor, the company’s CEO, said: “2015 was a landmark year of growth and progress for Mainstream. Following a review of our business activities in 2014, we implemented a business plan reflecting a renewed strategic focus; concentrating on the development of renewable energy platforms in growth markets.

“2016 has already seen us build on this momentum. We are currently planning a significant equity fundraise of at least €100 million to take advantage of the growth opportunities available to us and following the indication of a significant level of appetite to become part of the Mainstream growth story from third party institutional and strategic investors.”