Irish renewable power giant to laugh all the way to bank as it ‘flips on’ its £2bn Scottish wind farm ‘off-plan’ – without building a single turbine

Mainstream Renewable Power, the giant green energy group based in the Republic of Ireland, is set to land a huge ‘planning gain’ windfall from selling on its £2 billlion offshore Scottish wind farm – without building a single turbine tower in this country.

Mainstream has put its 450-megawatt  wind parc – which would be capable of powering all homes in a city the size of Edinburgh – on the market.

Backed all the way by the SNP-led minority Scot-Govt – which approved the plan – Neart na Gaoithe  benefits from a 15-year, inflation-linked  guaranteed power supply agreement (CfD) into the UK grid.

Industry analysts forecast the off-Fife wind-farm will sell for a “multiple” of an abortive €100 million deal stuck two years ago after the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) launched an ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to stop construction of Neart na Gaoithe.

Now Mainstream has hired KPMG to sell a controlling stake in the Scottish project. The surge in the equity value of the scheme in the past two years stems from a slump during the period in the cost of producing energy from offshore turbines and a surge in investors chasing green-energy assets.

15 Jan 2018