Good Energy has sold its wind and solar farms to Bluefield Solar Income Fund for up to £24.5 million as it focuses on mobility and energy services.
The energy supplier announced its intention to sell the 47.5MW portfolio last year, to allow it to refocus and increase its investment into Zap-Map and into building a new platform for small scale generators, providing smart metered power export.
The portfolio provides around 15% of Good Energy’s customers’ electricity, and is set to continue to do so via power purchase agreements (PPAs). It currently sources power from 1,900 renewable generators via PPAs, providing financial security for new projects.
Good Energy provided the examples of two subsidy free solar farms at Flint Landfill and Crumps Yard, which were completed in 2021 and for which it has PPAs.
Nigel Pocklington, chief executive officer of Good Energy, said: “The sale of our generation portfolio is a transformational moment for Good Energy and a fantastic deal for all of our stakeholders.
“Good Energy did the hard work getting these sites built, and now we are recycling that capital from our past to invest in our future.”
The sale of the assets follows tension between Good Energy and stakeholder Ecotricity, which owns a 25% share in the company. It was announced earlier this month that Ecotricity had requested an Extraordinary General Meeting to consider two resolutions, first of these being to not sell the renewables portfolio without stakeholder approval.
The second of these is an ordinary resolution to remove William Whitehorn from office as a director of Good Energy.
In a statement on social media site Twitter earlier this month, Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said the reason behind the requests was the series of profit warnings issued by Good Energy, adding that selling all of its generating assets “makes little sense for a green energy supplier”.
Good Energy has urged its shareholders to vote against both resolutions, with the general meeting set to take place on 11 February.
It stated that the sale will allow it to invest further in its “clearly outlined strategy of decentralised, digitised clean energy and transport services”, while Whitehorn has a successful track record at the company and his “depth of knowledge” is highly relevant to this strategy.
It follows Ecotricity making a cash offer for Good Energy at a price of 340p per share last summer, an offer that was taken up by only 1.8% of Good Energy shareholders.
The two companies also clashed in 2017 when Vince launched a bid to appoint himself to the board of Good Energy as a non-executive director citing corporate governance concerns, with Good Energy stating the bid from Vince presented a “significant conflict of interest” and was an attempt to “undermine” Good Energy.
