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Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust PLC on Wednesday said advancements have been made with the development of a number of portfolio assets. The London-based trust invests in renewable energy assets across the UK, continental Europe, and Australia. ORIT said it will invest an additional €7 million into Simply Blue Group, an Irish renewable energy developer. This latest round of investment will increase ORIT’s stake to 20% and follows previous increases from the initial 12% interest acquired in August 2021. New funding is to be structured as a convertible loan to help Simply Blue develop its large pipeline of offshore wind and sustainable fuels projects as it looks to raise long-term strategic funding. Located in Cambridgeshire, the 67 megawatt Breach solar farm is undergoing the final stages of its commissioning process with initial, albeit limited, exports of electricity to the grid already underway. After full export capacity is achieved in June, a 10-year purchase agreement with Iceland Foods Ltd will offtake 100% of production at a fixed and inflation linked price. In addition, at the 199MW Ballymacarney solar farm near Dublin, the construction of a fifth 42MW site has now finished. Following the completion of a €160 million acquisition agreement in February, ORIT will acquire the Ballymacarney assets from Statkraft Ireland Ltd once the required testing has been carried out. The handover is due to take place in the third quarter of 2024, with existing customer Microsoft Corp taking power from all five farms as announced in November 2022 after the company entered into a 15-year agreement. Furthermore, the HYRO Energy Ltd green hydrogen joint venture ‘continues to make good progress’ and ‘is currently progressing with the Northfleet hydrogen production project which is expected to reach ready-to-build status in 2025’. The joint venture also entered two projects into the UK government’s second hydrogen allocation funding support round with the outcome to be determined by the autumn period. This follows the success of the Northfleet project in December during the first round, the company said. Octopus Renewables shares were down 1.1% to 73.60 pence each in London on Wednesday morning. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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