Oil and gas group Parkmead moves into onshore wind

Oil and gas group Parkmead moves into onshore wind

A company led by Dana Petroleum founder Tom Cross has bought an onshore wind farm in Scotland in a rare example of a small independent oil and gas group branching out into renewables.

Parkmead Group, whose executive chair Cross sold his former company Dana to the Korea National Oil Corporation for nearly $3bn in 2010, has bought Kempstone Hill, which owns a 1.5 megawatt onshore wind farm in Scotland for £3.29mn in cash. It will take on a loan of about £990,000 as part of the transaction.

Although modest in size — the wind farm has the capacity to generate electricity for up to 1,000 homes — the deal marks an unusual foray by a small hydrocarbons company into selling renewable electricity to the grid.

Oil majors such as BP and Shell have come under pressure from investors to push into technologies such as offshore wind. But most independentsremain focused on producing oil and gas, arguing supply will be needed even in 2050 when the UK is legally bound to meet a net zero greenhouse gas emissions target.

The deal will mark the first time Parkmead sells electricity to the grid in Britain, although in 2019 it bought a sizeable land holding in Scotland, Pitreadie