Yorkshire wind farms owner rebrands as OnPath Energy after Brookfield acquisition

Banks Renewables was acquired by the Brookfield Global Transition Fund in a transaction that was announced in October 2023 and completed in December 2023.

OnPath Energy has more than 4 GW of renewable capacity in its pipeline, including 11 operational onshore wind farms across Scotland and northern England, and is already established as one of the leading owner/operators in the UK onshore renewable energy sector.

It owns the six-turbine Penny Hill Wind Farm near Sheffield, the five-turbine Hook Moor scheme to the east of Leeds, the four-turbineMarr Wind Farm to the west of Doncaster and the three-turbine Hazlehead Wind Farm near Barnsley.

In Banks Renewables’ most recent financial year, the four Yorkshire sites generated just over 100,000 MWh of electricity between them, whichis enough to meet the annual electricity needs of more than 32,300 homes, or a city roughly the size of Wakefield, and also deliveredcombined revenues of over £53,000 during the year for their respective community benefits funds.

The funds provide financial support for projects being undertaken by groups and good causes in the communities surrounding each wind farm,and will continue to operate as normal under the new owners.

OnPath Energy is led by the existing management team, and aims to become the UK’s leading land-based renewable energy developer by building an enhanced portfolio of onshore wind, solar and energy storage projects.

Richard Dunkley, managing director at OnPath Energy, says: “The OnPath Energy name captures the journey towards Net Zero that we’re takingtogether with our customers, business partners, landowners and local communities, and shows our ambition to make a substantial contributiontowards creating a just transition to Net Zero that is fair and inclusive for everyone.

“Our success to date has been achieved through creating and maintaining long term and valued relationships with all our stakeholders andconducting ourselves with professionalism and integrity in all that we do. Our culture and approach to development was a key reason Brookfieldacquired Banks Renewables, and this will continue to be at the core of OnPath Energy.

“We will grow in terms of our diversity of projects and technologies, and also geographically, and will deliver a range of high-quality projects that will contribute to both the UK’s journey towards net zero and its essential domestic supplies of secure, affordable renewable energy.

“Brookfield provides access to capital, global relationships for procurement and power marketing and a decades-long track record in renewables that will greatly enhance our business. We are already seeing the benefits to our business from their ownership, helping many of our projects take significant steps closer to becoming a reality.”

Brookfield is one of the world’s largest owners and operators of renewable power plants, with approximately 33 GW of operating capacityworldwide, equivalent to the UK’s onshore wind, offshore wind and hydroelectricity capacity.

OnPath Energy has secured planning permission for 14 windfarms and currently operate eleven onshore wind farms across Scotland and the north of England with a combined installed generation capacity of 282MW.