UK district heating plant in £150m refinancing

A district heating plant in the UK has secured £150m in what one investor says is the largest institutional-only financing deal in the country’s biomass sector to date.

The 40 MWe biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) Sleaford Renewable Energy Plant (pictured) in Lincolnshire came online in 2014 and is operated by Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC).

As a “good quality CHP plant”, the plant benefits from two Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) under the UK’s renewable energy scheme, providing heat to the local community for free under long-term offtake contracts.

The proceeds from the financing repaid a project financing, said Glennmont Partners, one of Europe’s largest clean energy infrastructure investment funds which successfully completed the refinancing.

The firm added that the £150m financing “has been placed to a large European institutional investor”.

Joost Bergsma, CEO of Glennmont Partners, said his company was “delighted to be completing one of the largest biomass transactions of 2017 for £150m.

“This transaction further highlights that biomass is a highly efficient renewable energy technology capable of attracting significant amounts of long-term, competitive institutional capital. The refinancing complements our strategy of building portfolios of renewable projects diversified by both geography and technology in order to provide predictable returns to investors.”

Source: Decentralised Energy