Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets agrees to acquire BARD Offshore 1

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (“MIRA”), via a Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 led consortium, has agreed to acquire Ocean Breeze Energy, the owner of North Sea wind farm BARD Offshore 1, from Unicredit.

The 400MW offshore wind farm is positioned 100 kilometres off the coast of northwestern Germany. Comprised of 80 5MW wind turbines spread over 59 square kilometres, the project harnesses powerful North Sea winds to supply the equivalent of approximately 463,000 households with clean electricity each year.

Leigh Harrison, Head of MIRA EMEA, said: “Offshore wind is playing a significant role in Germany’s ambitious Energiewende. We look forward to supporting the country’s transition to increasingly clean energy resources through our investment in BARD Offshore 1 – leveraging our extensive green energy experience to ensure it remains a source of sustainable and clean electricity for German households and industry.”

BARD Offshore 1 was Germany’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm when it entered operation in 2013. Following its initial years of operation, the project was named Germany’s most productive offshore wind farm.

MIRA is the world’s largest infrastructure manager and has invested in critical infrastructure businesses across Germany, including Open Grid Europe, TanQuid, Thyssengas, Techem and the Warnow Tunnel, since 2000.

MIRA is also a major investor in renewable energy – managing investments in 13.4GW of green energy projects around the world. In Europe, MIRA manages investments in approximately 5GW of hydro, offshore and onshore wind capacity across the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.