Wednesday 12th November 2014

Germany urges Vattenfall green re-think

The German government is seeking to persuade Swedish utility Vattenfall to reconsider its plans to restructure its energy assets.

The firm last month said it planned to increase the proportion of renewables in its portfolio after reporting a €2.1bn third quarter loss. The utility was forced to take impairment charges of €2.5bn after past acquisitions, and said it planned to restructure including selling its lignite power plants and mines in Germany for up to €3bn. This would involve increasing the proportion of wind in its portfolio.

However, Reuters has reported that the German government said this would threaten jobs in the country, and said it was unrealistic to quickly abandon traditional energy sources in favour of renewables.

Utilities eye increases in wind M&A

Mergers and acquisitions activity in the renewables sector by utilities reached $7.3bn in the third quarter of 2014.

Ernst & Young yesterday published its annual ‘Power & Utilities Global Capital confidence barometer’, which said the quarterly figure for M&A activity by utilities in renewables had reached a three-year high. This was driven by the growth of wind in the US.

It also reported that 40% of firms in the power sector said they expected to conclude an M&A deal in the next year; and were demonstrating a growing appetite for non-hydro renewables deals in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.

Isle of Man favours Dong deal

The Isle of Man government has named Dong Energy as preferred development partner for a 700MW wind farm in the Irish Sea.

The government yesterday announced that the Danish developer was preferred bidder for a wind farm in Isle of Man territorial waters off the island’s east coast. The project is due to complete by 2023.

The Isle of Man hopes that leasing parts of the seabed for renewable energy schemes in its territorial waters would help to boost the island’s public funds by an estimated £5m a year.

Studies: Red tape raises offshore costs

Developers have seen the cost of gaining consent for UK offshore wind farms rise despite growth in the sector.

Trade association Renewable UK and offshore wind consultancy TÜV SÜD PMSS jointly released reports yesterday that said the process to approve UK offshore wind farms was too complex, and that had led to increased consenting costs. These costs rose 15% per MW between the UK’s Round 1 and Round 2 projects.

Public spending cuts and conflicting messages from central government on UK renewable energy policy have both added complexity and cost to the job done by consenting bodies. This has resulted in the higher costs for developers.

Mainstream co-founder Whelan quits

Mainstream Renewable Power co-founder and corporate finance director Fintan Whelan is set to leave the company.

Whelan set up developer Mainstream in 2008 with chief executive Eddie O’Connor, after the sale of O’Connor’s Airtricity. Mainstream now has offices in nine countries and 334MW of operational wind and solar projects, with a development pipeline of over 19GW.

Whelan announced that he was leaving to pursue other interests. He will be replaced as head of corporate finance by Paul Corrigan.

Where does O’Connor feature in this year’s Top 100 Power People report? Find out now.