TerraForm completes the sale of 365 MW of UK solar projects

With the sale the yieldco has almost completely divested from the United Kingdom, as its acquisition by Brookfield grinds forward.

May 11, 2017 Christian Roselund

SunEdison

This morning TerraForm Power announced that it has completed the sale of a portfolio of 24 operational solar projects in the United Kingdom to the private equity arm of investment bank EFG Hermes, totaling 365 MW. This leaves TerraForm with only one 11 MW PV plant in the UK.

TerraForm gained $211 million from the sale, net of both transaction expenses, distribution and project-level debt. Such debt is reduced by £301 million ($388 million), meaning that the total value gained is $599 million.

This puts the sale at $1.64 per watt, which is very unlike the fire-sale prices when SunEdison solar a portfolio of projects in various stages of completion to NRG.

In addition to its sole remaining UK plant, TerraForm still holds solar and wind assets in Canada and solar projects in Chile, although the bulk of its assets at 2.36 GW are in the United States.

TerraForm's assets, before the sale of the UK projects. Image: TerraForm Power. — TerraForm’s assets, before the sale of the UK projects. Image: TerraForm Power.

TerraForm says that it plans to use the proceeds from the sale to enhance its liquidity position and reduce its debt. This is doubtless a move welcomed by Brookfield, which is currently moving through the legal and regulatory processes associated with buying TerraForm Power and fellow former SunEdison yieldco TerraForm Global.

EFG Hermes acquired the projects through its Vortex renewable energy platform, which now holds 822 MW of wind and solar assets in Europe.

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