German wind energy developer wpd has achieved financial close for the development of the 640MW Yunlin offshore wind farm in Taiwan.
As per wpd, the Yunlin project will be located 8km off the Taiwanese west coast and will be powered by 80 of Siemens Gamesa’s 8MW turbines. The project is expected to be completed in December of 2021. Last month, wpd received tariff award from the Taiwanese government for the wind project.
wpd owns 73% stake in the offshore project
The wind farm is owned 73% by wpd and the remaining 27% is owned by Sojitz led consortium, which comprises of Chugoku Electric Power, Chudenko, Shikoku Electric Power and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy.
wpd chief financial officer Björn Nullmeyer said: “We are pleased to announce Financial Close for our Yunlin project. Our special thanks go to all those involved in the project, Banks, ECAs and consultants for the tirelessly commitment to make this happen.”
Financing for the project has been provided by nineteen banks and three export credit agencies, which include EKF from Denmark, Euler Hermes from Germany and Atradius from the Netherlands, has closed the TWD94bn (£2.37bn) project financing.
The bank financing group consists of four Taiwanese banks that include Cathay United Bank, CTBC Bank, E.SUN Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank and fifteen international banks such as BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, ING Bank, KfW-IPEX Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Natixis, OCBC, Siemens Bank, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
SMBC acted as Financial Advisor and E-Sun as the local financial advisor for the project debt financing.
wpd chief operating officer Achim Berge Olsen said: “By achieving this important step we now can concentrate on the realization of the project. We are looking forward to the cooperation with our partners and of course we are aware of the special responsibility being the first large offshore wind project with local supply chain in Taiwan.
“We are proud of paving the way for future renewable energy projects in Asia.”
