InfraRed Infrastructure Fund III acquires Afton Wind Farm

InfraRed Infrastructure Fund III has committed to invest £78 million (US$100m) for a 100% interest in Afton Wind Farm. 

Afton is a fully consented, construction-ready, 25 turbine, 50 MW onshore wind farm located in the south west of Scotland (UK).

This opportunity has been acquired from E.ON Climate & Renewables (E.ON) who developed the project through planning consent. The project has secured grid connectivity and construction is expected to commence in Q4 2016, with full generation anticipated in Q4 2017. The project has a high level of revenue predictability with a floor tariff for 15 years.

The primary contactors involved in this project are Gamesa (turbine supplier, and 15-year operations and maintenance contractor), Farrans Construction (civil and electrical contractor) and Neas Energy (power purchase agreement).

Advisors to the project are Osborne Clarke and Harper Macleod (legal), and Everoze and Natural Power Consultants (technical).

InfraRed has a long-standing and successful track record of investing in infrastructure, having developed over 70 infrastructure projects with an aggregate capital expenditure of US$25 billion. In particular, it has over ten years experience of developing windfarms, with its first investment in the wind sector in 2006, and is therefore well placed to steer the project successfully through its construction period.

Bryn Jones, at InfraRed, commented:

“InfraRed is pleased to add this investment opportunity to its portfolio and utilise its extensive experience in developing wind farms. This investment opportunity arose at short notice and our experience in converting late stage development onshore wind farms and managing construction has allowed us to successfully complete the transaction within a matter of weeks with support from E.ON.”