The owners of Irish floating wind developer Simply Blue Group are selling a majority stake in the company, sources said, following a wave of success already this year in UK leasing rounds.
The Octopus Energy-backed company appointed Green Giraffe to sell a majority stake in the company earlier this year and is ‘open’ to negotiate the size of the divestment, sources said.
The sale process, codenamed Project Delphi, launched two weeks ago and initial offers are due in four weeks’ time, according to a source.
The company is currently developing two floating wind projects in Ireland, including the 1.35 GW Western Star and 1.3 GW Emerald projects. It is also developing the 5 MW Saiorse 'wave' energy project. It is set to be the first full-scale wave energy conversion test and demonstration project in Ireland.
Outside Ireland, Cork-based Simply Blue is active in the offshore markets of the UK, Portugal, Spain, the US, Sweden and Finland.
The company was recently offered an exclusivity agreement to develop its 100 MW Salamander project as part of Crown Estate Scotland’s Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) leasing round in March.
The project is being developed as a joint venture between Ørsted, Simply Blue Group and Subsea7, and is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Salamander has a grid connection agreement with the National Grid and is due to come online by 2030.
Also in March, Simply Blue was granted permission by the Welsh government to develop the country's first floating offshore wind project, due to come online in 2026.
It is developing the 100 MW Project Erebus floating farm under a joint venture between TotalEnergies called Blue Gem Wind.
It will be located 40km off the coast of Pembrokeshire and is part of the first phase of a 4 GW renewable energy development in the Celtic Sea, enough to power 4 million homes.
Octopus Energy Generation is the regulated fund management specialist, part of Octopus Energy Group, that owns Simply Blue. Octopus bought 24% of Simply Blue for EUR 15m of equity in August 2021, and invested a further GBP 25m in November last year, with other unnamed shareholders providing another EUR 2.5m. Simply Blue’s co-founders are its chief executive Sam Roch-Perks and its Managing Director Hugh Kelly.
Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, according to the company, and was launched in 2010.
Currently the team manages 3 GW of renewable energy assets worth over GBP 5bn spanning 11 countries and eight technologies, according to its website.
Simply Blue, Octopus Energy and Green Giraffe declined to comment.
