Aspiravi helped found the Northwind offshore wind farm off the Belgian coast. In March 2024 it used a clause in the shareholder agreement to buy out JERA's Parkwind and take control. The headline price per megawatt in Leap looks low for operating offshore wind. It is measuring the wrong thing.
Key takeaways
- Aspiravi Group announced on 19 March 2024 that it had acquired a 30 percent stake in the 216 MW Northwind offshore wind farm in Belgium from Parkwind, the offshore wind business owned by Japan's JERA.
- Aspiravi bought the Northwind stake by exercising its pre-emption right over all Northwind shares held by Parkwind, taking Aspiravi Offshore from an original 25 percent holding to 70 percent over the life of the project.
- Enerdatics estimates the value of Aspiravi's 30 percent Northwind stake at $308 million, which implies about $1.03 billion for the whole wind farm, or $4.75 million per MW on a 100 percent basis.
- Northwind's 72 turbines sit on the Lodewijk Bank, 37 km off the Belgian coast, and have operated since 2014; power is sold to Electrabel under a long-term PPA, and green certificates are bought by grid operator Elia at a fixed price of about $116.2 per MWh for 20 years.
- Voltiq acted as financial adviser to Aspiravi Group on the purchase of Parkwind's Northwind shares.
What is a pre-emption right, and why did it decide this deal?
It decided who could buy. A pre-emption right is a clause in a shareholder agreement that gives existing owners first refusal when another owner wants to sell. If the clause is exercised, an outside bidder can be outmatched before it ever reaches the table.
Parkwind's shares in Northwind were therefore never fully on the open market. Aspiravi used its right to buy every Northwind share Parkwind held. The transaction, as Leap records it, solidifies Belgian ownership of the project.
The ownership history explains why Aspiravi had the right in the first place. Leap records Aspiravi Offshore and Colruyt Group as Northwind's developers. Parkwind sold 30 percent of its shares to Sumitomo Corporation in October 2014, and JERA acquired Parkwind itself from Virya Energy in March 2023. Leap describes Aspiravi Offshore as a founding member of the project.
Leap's record also lists an ownership split of Aspiravi 40 percent, Parkwind 30 percent and Sumitomo 30 percent. Read alongside the record's statement that Aspiravi has moved from 25 to 70 percent, that split describes the position before Parkwind's shares changed hands. After the deal, Sumitomo's 30 percent is the only stake Aspiravi does not hold.
Why does Leap's headline per MW figure understate the price?
Because it divides a minority price by the whole wind farm. The structured per MW field in Leap's deal record divides the $308 million consideration by all 216 MW of Northwind and arrives at $1.43 million per MW. That figure would look like a distressed sale for an operating offshore wind farm with subsidised revenue.
The consideration buys 30 percent, not 100 percent. Grossing a minority price up to the full asset means dividing it by the share acquired. Done that way, $308 million for 30 percent implies about $1.03 billion for the whole project, or $4.75 million per MW. Enerdatics' comparables engine applies exactly this adjustment and records $4.75 million per MW as an estimated figure.
The gap is more than threefold. A reader comparing the raw field with other offshore wind deals would conclude Aspiravi bought cheaply. On a like-for-like basis it paid a normal price for Belgian offshore wind, and slightly more than the market midpoint.
What is Aspiravi buying in a ten-year-old wind farm?
It is buying a contracted income stream with a fixed end date. Belgium supports offshore wind through green certificates, tradeable proofs that a megawatt hour of renewable power was produced. For offshore projects, the transmission operator Elia buys these certificates at a fixed price for 20 years, which gives the owner a floor under its revenue regardless of wholesale prices.
Northwind's certificates are bought at about $116.2 per MWh. Its power is sold separately under a long-term PPA with Electrabel into the Belgian wholesale market. The project produces enough electricity to supply about 250,000 homes a year and avoids around 309,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, according to Leap.
The wind farm was completed in 2013 and has operated since 2014. If the 20 years of certificate support run from the start of operation, that support ends in the mid-2030s. A buyer at this stage is paying for roughly a decade of supported cash flow, plus whatever the site is worth afterwards, including any option to repower it with larger turbines.
Enerdatics records 32 acquisitions of operating offshore wind assets in Europe announced between January 2023 and June 2025. Nineteen can be priced per MW, with a median of $4.46 million per MW, a middle half between $3.60 million and $5.52 million, and a full range from $2.15 million to $8.00 million. At an estimated $4.75 million per MW grossed up, Northwind sits just above the median. Thirteen of the 32 deals carry no usable price.
What does the deal signal for Belgian offshore wind?
It signals that Belgian offshore wind stakes are changing hands between existing partners rather than reaching new buyers. Six weeks before the Northwind deal, Marguerite sold its 10 percent stake in the 325 MW C-Power wind farm on the Thornton Bank to the project's existing co-shareholders. Leap values that transaction at $145 million, which grosses up to $4.46 million per MW, exactly the European median.
The two deals look alike in several ways. Both wind farms have operated for about a decade. Both rely on the same Belgian certificate regime: C-Power's certificates are bought at about $115 per MWh for its first 216 MW and about $99 per MWh thereafter. Both stakes went to owners already inside the project. Grossed up, the two prices sit within about 7 percent of each other.
For incumbent owners the logic is straightforward. They already know the turbines, the operating record and the regulator, so they carry less diligence risk than an outsider and can move quickly when a partner exits. Aspiravi is also building onshore, and its contract to supply Google from nine small Belgian wind farms is covered in our post ranking Google's Belgian wind contracts. Northwind adds a large offshore asset to that domestic position.
For foreign owners the deal is a reminder that a minority stake in a mature project can be hard to sell outside the shareholder group. JERA bought Parkwind in March 2023, and within a year one of Parkwind's Belgian positions had passed to a partner. The per MW price was respectable once grossed up, and comparable to the $3.70 million per MW Enerdatics calculates for Masdar's Baltic Eagle stake in Germany. The open question is whether Sumitomo's remaining 30 percent eventually follows the same path.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns the Northwind offshore wind farm? After buying Parkwind's 30 percent, Aspiravi holds 70 percent of the 216 MW Northwind wind farm. Sumitomo Corporation holds the remaining 30 percent, which it bought from Parkwind in October 2014.
How much did Aspiravi pay for the Northwind stake? The parties did not disclose a price. Enerdatics estimates the value of the 30 percent stake at $308 million, or $4.75 million per MW once grossed up to 100 percent of the wind farm.
How does Northwind earn revenue? Northwind sells its power under a long-term PPA with Electrabel and sells green certificates to Belgian grid operator Elia at a fixed price of about $116.2 per MWh for 20 years.
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