Renewables Infrastructure buys Scottish winds project for £18.5m

(ShareCast News) - Renewables Infrastructure Group has bought Freasdail Wind Farm, a wind project in Scotland for £18.5m, which increased the FTSE 250 company's portfolio capacity to over 700 megawatts.The company bought the interest in Freasdail in Argyll & Bute, from the company's operations manager, Renewable Energy Systems (RES) under a right-of-first-offer agreement, for £18.5m, including project completion costs. RES will stay on to complete construction of the project.The transaction was financed from the proceeds of the recent equity-raising.So far, the company has invested in 17 wind and solar projects in the UK and France, increasing the diversification of its portfolio which now encompasses 53 projects, and with the acquisition of Freasdail in Argyll & Bute, which has 22.55 megawatts capacity, the company now has a generating capacity of more than 700 megawatts.The wind project is in an advanced stage of construction and is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2017 and to be accredited under the UK's 20-year 0.9 renewables obligation certificate per megawatt hour support regime.Freasdail has an expected 25-year lifespan and includes benefits from a 15-year power purchase agreement including a floor price with Vattenfall Energy Trading.Investment manager InfraRed Capital Partners sources projects on behalf of the company, including onshore wind and solar photovoltaic projects as well as projects in battery storage and offshore wind technologies.Shares in Renewables Infrastructure Group were down 0.47% to 106.30p at 0816 GMT.