UK-based Octopus Energy has acquired a 12.5% stake in the 660MW Walney Extension offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea near Barrow-in-Furness, north-west England.
Financial terms of the transaction were not divulged.
The stake has been acquired via AIP Management, the investment manager for Danish pension funds PKA and PFA, each holding 25%.
The remaining 50% stake is owned by Danish energy company Ørsted.
Walney Extension has been operational since 2018 and is powered by 87 turbines, each taller than the 158m Blackpool tower. They include 40 MHI Vestas 8MW turbines and 47 Siemens Gamesa 7MW turbines.
The power generated from the wind farm is sufficient to meet the needs of 600,000 homes.
Octopus made the latest investment through its Offshore Wind Fund and the Sky Fund, both managed by its Octopus Energy Generation unit.
It is Octopus’ sixth offshore wind investment since 2022.
It previously backed Hornsea One and Lincs in the UK, the Borssele III & IV offshore wind farms in the Netherlands and the 288MW Butendiek project in Germany.
The investment is in line with Octopus’ plans to invest £15bn ($18.94bn) in offshore wind and supply clean energy to millions of homes globally by 2030.
Octopus Energy Generation CEO Zoisa North-Bond stated: “The future for offshore wind is here and now – and just this year, wind power overtook gas in Britain. The UK is already a world leader in offshore wind and we are confident this secure and homegrown energy source will play an even bigger role in the UK’s energy mix.
“We are overjoyed to make this investment after we recently announced our Offshore Wind Fund, and we will continue to rapidly scale our offshore wind activity globally.”
