Sojitz-led Japanese group buys Irish wind projects

Sojitz Corporation has announced it has concluded a stock purchase agreement through subsidiary ShaMrocK Wind Limited —a joint venture established in UK with Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Limited and several Kansai Electric Power subsidiaries—to acquire a 60% stake in Evalair Limited, through which Sojitz will take on operation of a wind power plant in Ireland.

Once local administrative procedures are complete, they plan to finish the share acquisition process sometime in late August.

This will effectively give Sojitz a 29.3% stake in Evalair through ShaMrocK Wind. Kansai Electric Power and Mitsubishi will hold a 24% stake and 6.7% stake, respectively.

The seller Invis Energy – set up in June 2011 as a joint venture between Craydel Group and HG Capital – will retain the remaining 40% stake.

Evalair owns and operates five wind power plants in Ireland with a combined generating capacity of 223MW, providing renewable energy-based electricity to Ireland’s power market under the country’s feed-in tariff system.

Ireland boasts some of the best wind conditions in the world and has set a goal of having 40% of their total energy consumption covered by renewable energy by 2020. It is predicted the country will see many more wind power plants built in the years ahead.

Sojitz intends to develop and construct new power plants in Ireland utilizing energy generation-related development and operations expertise accumulated in Japan and abroad. Additionally, Sojitz plans to further nurture its renewable energy generation business into a pillar of stable revenue within Europe, by actively working on wind power generation businesses not only in Ireland, but it other places in the region anticipating sustainable growth.