Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has decided to build a new wind farm off the Lincolnshire coast.
Centrica announced this morning that construction will start next year, and should be finished by 2012. Building 75 turbines capable of generating 270 Megawatts of power will cost the company £725m. When built, it will take the total output of Centrica's renewable energy projects to 650MW.
It also announced today that it has sold a stake in its existing UK wind farms to US-based investment management company TCW, and is raising further funds through a refinancing deal.
Centrica got official approval for the Lincolnshire site a year ago, and chief executive Sam Laidlaw acknowledged that government subsidies will make the project viable:
"Our decision to build Lincs illustrates our continued commitment to develop renewable generation and confirms our position as one of the UK leaders in green energy. The government's enhanced financial framework for offshore wind has been fundamental in improving the overall project economics of this development.
"The refinancing and equity sale of part of our existing wind portfolio underlines the quality of the operational assets and creates a structure for recycling Centrica's capital and mobilising third-party funds efficiently. This is a milestone in our renewables strategy and we look forward to working together with TCW, who bring significant global expertise in energy investments."
In other news.... BAA, which owns Heathrow and Stansted and has just agreed to sell Gatwick, has suffered a loss of £784.7m in the last nine months, up from a £519.5m loss a year ago. This is mainly caused by one-off writedowns, including the £225m difference between the price it got for Gatwick and the value of the airport on its balance sheet.
BG Group has followed BP (who published results yesterday), by reporting a sharp fall in profits in the last three months. BG made an operating profit of £856m, down 38% on a year ago.
Sticking with oil, Dana Petroleum has found a new oil reserve off Norway.
Prudential has beaten expectations with a 10% jump in sales across the group, led by its US arm where retail sales jumped 66%.
And technology firm Laird has confirmed it is planning a rights issue.
