A group of equity investors including Macquarie Capital and the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) have, with a consortium of 12 banks and the European Investment Bank (EIB), secured financing to complete construction on the 336MW Galloper wind farm, off the coast of Suffolk in the United Kingdom.
RWE Innogy, the wind farm’s developer, stopped construction on the £1.5 billion ($2.3 billion; €2.1 billion) project last year when SSE Energy pulled their funding. However, work will continue now that Macquarie, GIB and Siemens Financial Services have agreed to each take a 25 percent stake in the project. Construction will continue next month, with the project operational in early 2018.
Along with the equity, the commercial banks and the EIB will provide £1.37 billion in debt facilities. EIB said it would provide £225 million for the first UK project backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, a vehicle aiming to attract private capital for EIB projects in the renewable, digital infrastructure, transport and research sectors.
“Projects such as Galloper demonstrate the leading role of the European offshore sector and confirm the EIB’s commitment to finance investment in green growth,” Jonathan Taylor, a vice-president at EIB, said in a statement. He said EIB was pleased a group of banks and equity partners came together to finish the project.
The Galloper investment is GIB’s second UK offshore wind farm investment in six months, as it also invested in a €327 million stake in the 400MW Rampion Offshore Wind Farm in May. That makes eight offshore wind investments for the green bank which will give it a combined 3,000MW capacity when all projects are operating.
This article first appeared on Low Carbon Energy Investor, II’s sister publication covering global energy transition markets
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