Danish power giant firm Ørsted announced on Monday, October 1, the completion of its acquisition of 100% equity interest Lincoln Clean Energy LLC (LCE), a US onshore wind energy developer. The acquisition was valued at approximated $580 million. Ørsted has since restructured its business units and created a new unit called Onshore Wind.
The acquisition was first announced in August this year, with Ørsted committing to acquire LCE from its the I Squared Capital, a global infrastructure investment managing firm. The deal was completed this Monday and cemented by Ørsted’s creation of Onshore Wind, which will be reported as a separate segment of Ørsted’s corporate structure with LCE’s and the unit’s only activity from outset.
LCE was involved in the development of solar and wind power projects from concept to commercial distribution. LCE’s infrastructure provided 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy to North American and European grids.
Besides the creation of Onshore Wind, Ørsted has renamed others of its existing business units in an effort to streamline its expanding operations. Wind Power has been renamed to Offshore Wind to coincide with the new unit generation. Bioenergy & Thermal Power is now simply Bioenergy, a reflection of Ørsted’s gradual pull away from fossil fuel energy sources.
Most of our combined heat and power (CHP) plants are being converted to run on biomass, and we’re investing in both Renescience and biogas. Therefore, we believe that Bioenergy is a more fitting name for this business area,” said Ørsted’s Tom Lehn-Christiansen
In June, the company sold off its Danish power distribution franchises and residential customer business. Their Distribution & Customer Solutions unit has been renamed not to Customer Solutions.
The newly created Offshore Wind division will be headed by Ole Kjems Sørensen, Executive Vice President and member of Ørsted’s Executive Commettee. Sørensen also leads the company’s Corporate Development and M&A activities.
The acquisition does not change Ørsted’s guidance for the 2018 financial year, or the announced expected investment level for 2018.
[Source: Clean Technica]
