Financing for the first phase of what will be the North Sea’s largest offshore wind farm has closed, with most of the funding commitment coming from the European Investment Bank.
Eleven banks agreed to grant the request for 700 million euros ($918.82 million) for the first phase of the project. More than 85 percent of the debt package will come from the European Investment Bank and the State Bank of North Rhine-Westphalia.
UniCredit Bank A.G., Dexia Crédit Local, KfW Bankengruppe and Rabobank Nederland N.V. committed to the debt package.
Trianel G.m.b.H., a German utility, earlier sought about 550 million euros to develop the 400-megawatt Borkum West II located 28 miles north of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea.
Trianel is one of 34 shareholders of the Trianel Power Windpark Borkum G.m.b.H., where investors from Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland are also involved.
The European Commission invested 565 million euros in nine interconnected offshore wind projects in the North Sea, which will feature 5-MW wind turbine generators on tripod foundations in the Borkum West II section.
The 56 square-mile wind farm is Europe’s first purely local offshore wind park. Given the predicted wind resources in the island, Borkum is expected to generate approximately up to 1,300 gigawatt-hours of electricity every year.
The facility, neighboring Germany’s first offshore wind farm Alpha Ventus, will use 40 M5000 wind turbines from French company Areva in total capable of 200 megawatts of power.
Power generation from the first phase will be connected to the grid by 2013, lighting 200,000 households. The next phase involves deployment of another 40 wind turbines.
Dietmar Spohn, managing director of Stadtwerke Bochum, said financing of the wind farm was set last year through the 42.7 million euro grant of the European Energy Program for Economic Recovery.
Facility will use 40 M5000 wind turbines from French company Areva,
Financing for the first phase of what will be the North Sea’s largest offshore wind farm has closed, with most of the funding commitment coming from the European Investment Bank.
Eleven banks agreed to grant the request for 700 million euros ($918.82 million) for the first phase of the project. More than 85 percent of the debt package will come from the European Investment Bank and the State Bank of North Rhine-Westphalia.
UniCredit Bank A.G., Dexia Crédit Local, KfW Bankengruppe and Rabobank Nederland N.V. committed to the debt package.
Trianel G.m.b.H., a German utility, earlier sought about 550 million euros to develop the 400-megawatt Borkum West II located 28 miles north of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea.
By Rowena F. Caronan ( ecoseed )
[mappress]
Source: ecoseed, December 23, 2010