Reuters reported that British offshore wind project Triton Knoll has attracted the interest of several large investment funds, according to three sources familiar with the matter, in a sign of the growing competition for assets in the fast-changing sector.

German energy group Innogy, owner and developer of the planned 2-billion-pound (USD 2.8 billion) farm off the coast of eastern England, is looking for partners to get it off the ground.

The three sources told Reuters that the project has drawn interest from a number of infrastructure and pension funds, including Australia's Macquarie , Switzerland's Partners Group and Denmark's PFA Pension.

Innogy, Macquarie, Partners Group and PFA all declined to comment on Triton Knoll. Offshore projects of this size typically have more than one investor alongside the developer.

The demand for the 860-megawatt (MW) Triton Knoll is indicative of the wider interest in offshore wind projects among funds. The returns on offer typically 6-9 percent outstrip interest rates, while competition has been heated up by the fact the number of profitable new projects becoming available is declining because fewer can secure government subsidies.

New data from industry group WindEurope, provided to Reuters ahead of its publication, reflects this rising institutional investor interest, as well as the decline in the building of offshore farms.

Infrastructure funds, pension funds and asset managers accounted for 35 percent of offshore M&A activity in Europe in 2017, up from 27 percent in the previous year, according to the data.

At the same time, spending on new offshore capacity in Europe declined by 60 percent to 7.5 billion euros ($9.3 billion) last year, the first annual fall since 2012. "There is definitely competition. The larger the project, the larger the investors which look at them," said Oldrik Verloop, head of client advisory services for real assets at Aquila Capital, which manages 3.6 billion euros of renewable assets.