Elo invests in six Nordic wind farms

Elo is one of the three investors in a fund managed by Credit Suisse Energy Infrastructure Partners (CSEIP) and will own about 20% of the group of wind farms after the deal. CSEIP’s fund has bought an 80% stake in six wind farms from Fortum. The debt-free value of the deal is approximately EUR 250 million. The other investors are European institutional investors.

The wind farm portfolio consists of Nygårdsfjellet and Ånstadblåheia in Norway, Solberg in Sweden and Kalax, which is still under construction, in Närpiö, Finland. In addition to these, the investors are also seeking to buy a stake in two more wind farms through the fund. One of these wind farms is being built in Sørfjord, Norway, and the other, Sävar, will be built later in Sweden. The total capacity of these wind farms is 500 MW.

“The wind farms in operation right now in Norway and Sweden will provide immediate cash flow to investors, which will help enable the construction of the Finnish wind farm. The wind farms have signed long-term commercial electricity sales contracts, which will provide steady and agreed income. The wind farms are not covered by the feed-in tariff (guaranteed price system), which means that they will not create any additional expenses for taxpayers,” says Jan Schulman, Portfolio Manager at Elo.

The Kalax wind farm is currently being built in Närpiö, and it is set to be completed by the end of 2020. Kalax’s capacity will be 90 MW, and the amount of electricity it produces will be equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of about 65,000 households.

“Even before this deal, Elo had already been investing in renewable energy in the Nordic countries, where climate goals are very ambitious. In addition to its profitable growth, the industry’s carbon neutrality is also attractive to Elo,” says Karita Meling, Head of Private Equity at Elo.

Elo has invested in a total of 11 wind farms in the Nordic countries, and the wind farms’ combined capacity will be about 1,800 MW.

Further information:

Jan Schulman, Portfolio Manager, jan.schulman@elo.fi