Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust, the diversified renewables infrastructure company, has agreed to conditionally acquire, through a forward purchase agreement, a 32.6MW solar site in Ireland for approximately €27 million. This is the sixth project at the operational Ballymacarney complex that ORIT already owns. The additional site, known as Irishtown, will increase the total complex capacity by 14% to 274MW.
Construction will commence shortly, with ORIT completing the purchase for the entire cash consideration after the project has completed operational testing. Completion is expected to take place in the second half of 2026 and no capital will be required to be paid by the Company until then. This acquisition is in line with ORIT's stated disciplined capital allocation policy, to make selected accretive investments as part of its ongoing capital recycling programme.
Irishtown, like the other five sites at Ballymacarney, has been developed by Statkraft, a leading renewable energy developer and operator with which ORIT has worked before. The site will sell its additional electricity generated through a new long-term power purchase agreement ('PPA') with a US technology company. Irishtown will share the existing grid infrastructure that is already in place for the current five-site complex.
Phil Austin, Chair of Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust, commented:
'We remain acutely focused on disciplined capital allocation, and have been clear that new acquisitions will only be made where there is a compelling case to do so. This forward purchase reflects the opportunity to expand our presence at Ballymacarney in a cost-efficient manner using the site's existing infrastructure, and provides ORIT with attractive potential for NAV per share accretion when compared with alternative uses of capital.
'The new PPA sits well with ORIT's well-established strategy of de-risking portfolio cashflows through securing long-term fixed revenue. We look forward to working with Statkraft through the construction process and building on the ongoing relationship that we have with them through the asset management arrangement at Ballymacarney.'
Source: Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust
