OnPath expands Scottish wind farm portfolio

A renewable energy developer is expanding its Scottish wind farm portfolio through a new agreement covering three onshore projects.

Sunderland-headquartered OnPath Energy has signed an option agreement with Wilson Forest Products covering the Bankend Rig II, Bankend Rig III and Hawkwood Wind Farm developments in South Lanarkshire.

The projects form part of OnPath’s wider ambition to invest around £1 billion across southern Scotland over the next five years.

Together, the three proposed wind farms would feature 18 turbines with a combined generating capacity of 121MW - enough to power around 150,000 homes annually.

Planning consent has already been secured for the two Bankend Rig schemes, while Hawkwood Wind Farm has received council approval subject to legal agreements.

Richard Dunkley, chief executive at OnPath Energy, which is owned by global investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, said: “We are making significant investments in high-quality renewable energy infrastructure as we grow in terms of our diversity of projects and technologies, as well as geographically, and have a clear strategy in place for how we will achieve our goals.

“Alongside developing our own renewable generation projects from first principles, we are also looking to identify other opportunities at every stage of the lifecycle, from pre-construction right through to operational wind farms and project repowering.

“The £1 billion investment in clean energy projects across southern Scotland in the next five years is central to OnPath Energy’s drive towards becoming the UK’s leading renewable energy developer."

The partnership builds on a previous collaboration between the two firms at the nearby Mill Rig Wind Farm, which is expected to become fully operational later this year.

Shaun Chande, mergers and acquisitions director at OnPath Energy, added: “Both teams have worked extremely hard to bring together this agreement, which marks a key milestone for OnPath.

“Following the completion of the sale of seven operational wind farms earlier in the year, we are executing our strategy of reinvesting capital from the sale of existing operational assets into new high quality onshore wind development projects.

“Asset rotation, including both acquisitions and disposals, is a key part of our long-term growth strategy, with the capital we generate enabling us to increase our investment in our project pipeline and build up the contribution we can make towards delivering growth and jobs across the UK with clean, home-grown energy.”

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