The ground rent tax settlement that came before Christmas was decisive for the transaction for both buyer and seller of the Tellenes and Guleslettene wind power plants this week, according to Eviny CEO Ragnhild Janbu Fresvik.
BECOME A WIND POWER OWNER: CEO Ragnhild Janbu Fresvik in Eviny. Photo: Skjalg Böhmer Vold / E24 Published:
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On Tuesday this week, Eviny announced that the company has bought the wind power plants Tellenes and Guleslettene from the international investment company Blackrock.
Thus, Blackrock is out of Norwegian wind power.
The parties have agreed a company value of 537.5 million euros for the two wind farms, approximately NOK 6.1 billion.
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– We like stability
On Thursday, Blackrock manager Fredrik Norell attended Pareto Securities’ annual renewables conference.
From the stage during a panel debate, Norell said that Blackrock is an “infrastructure investor”. If it is wind they are going to invest in, it must be “a fairly good wind project”, with grid connection – “something that is challenging everywhere, really” – and “stable political framework conditions”.
– We try to stay in countries we invest in, so in that context we like stability and predictability, said Norell.
SILENT ABOUT WIND POWER SALES: Manager Fredrik Norell in Blackrock. Photo: Kjetil Malkenes Hovland, E24
Norell will not comment further on the sale of the wind power plants to E24.
He says Blackrock does not comment in detail on individual investments.
– Profitable investment
CEO Ragnhild Janbu Fresvik in Eviny says on Thursday to E24 that they would not have done the transaction if there had not been a broad political compromise behind the ground rent tax.
– It was important for both buyer and seller, I think, says Fresvik.
She says both parties have calculated the effect of the ground rent tax and arrived at the same value estimate for it.
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– We see that this is a profitable investment for us. It also means that we have looked at the development possibilities of these parks, says Fresvik.
This was highlighted by Blackrock when the transaction was announced this week. In announcing the sale on Tuesday, Blackrock’s Keith Mangan said it had been important for the company to find a suitable owner who would continue to develop and operate the wind farms, and that they were delighted it was Eviny.
Will develop the facilities
Fresvik believes that Eviny’s starting point as an owner is slightly different from Blackrock’s.
– Where Blackrock, which manages pension money, will primarily be concerned with locking in the cash flow, we as an industrial owner will want to unlock the cash flow and develop the parks, and also play a bit more on the power compared to the balancing power we have in hydropower, she says .
Fresvik points out that the natural interventions have already been done, that the foundations are there and the construction roads are in place. Thus, it should be possible to apply for a new license to increase capacity when the lifetime of the existing facilities is up, Eviny believes.
PRODUCES POWER: The Guleslettene wind power plant at Florø was installed in 2020 and put into operation in 2021. Photo: Tore Meek / NTB
– We have calculated a lifespan of approximately 30 years for these wind farms, says Fresvik.
The Guleslettene wind farm is located in the municipalities of Bremanger and Kinn, while the Tellenes wind farm is located in the Rogaland municipalities of Lund and Sokndal.
The combined production from the two wind farms today corresponds to the electricity consumption of around 75,000 households.
Sees “unique opportunities”
From the stage on Thursday, Norell also said that he believes the Nordic countries have “a lot of interesting things going on with the industrial expansion”.
– In the next few years, it will be crucial to see if we get it done, because of some of the challenges we see here. But I think this is really an exceptional opportunity, he says.
Norell believes there will be “unique opportunities in the Nordics in the next five to ten years” in batteries, hydrogen and CCS, and says that Blackrock as an investor “is following very closely”.
2024-01-18 21:31:31
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