Renwables Infrastrucuture Group acquires stake in German wind farm, exits Swedish project

By Nina Chestney

LONDON (Reuters) - London-listed The Renewables Infrastructure Group <TRIG.L> (TRIG) said on Friday it has completed the acquisition of a 36% stake in a 396 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

Commercial operations commenced in June 2019 at the Merkur wind farm and the project benefits from a feed-in tariff for the next 13 years.

Dutch pension investor APG has acquired the remaining 64% in the project. Financial details were not disclosed.

TRIG also said it has exited from a Swedish onshore wind project being developed by Enercon due to construction delays.

Ersträsk is an onshore wind farm in Sweden being developed in two phases. TRIG invested in 75% of the equity in phase 1 upon it becoming operational in the first quarter of 2019 and had intended to invest in 75% of phase 2 when operational.

"The delays in the construction of Phase 2 will result in the project missing key milestones and, given the near-term

prospects for its progression, the company has chosen not to proceed with the investment in phase 2," TRIG said.

No financial loss will occur because payment was only due when the turbines became operational by the milestone.

TRIG has an option to sell its phase 1 stake back to Enercon in the event that phase 2 does not complete. This is expected to be done in the third quarter this year.

In addition, TRIG has made an additional investment in Fujin SAS, a holding company that owns a portfolio of five operational windfarms in France with a generation capacity of 87.8 MW.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)