Thailand’s 450MW wind projects hit financial close

Wind Energy Holdings has secured $1.1bn in financing from Siam Commercial Bank for its portfolio of five 90MW greenfield projects.

Wind Energy Holdings, majority owned by Thai conglomerate KPN Group, has achieved financial close on a 450MW portfolio of wind projects in Thailand.

The wind energy developer is sponsoring the development and construction of the portfolio, which comprises five 90MW wind farms in the Nakhon Ratchasima province of Thailand.

Siam Commercial Bank offered separate project financing for each of the projects, a total of $1.1 billion, according to Norton Rose Fulbright, the legal advisor for the sponsor on the transaction.

The law firm said “the co-development of five utility-scale contiguous projects with common infrastructure involved the management of a high degree of complex interface risk”.

The project also features GE and Vestas as the turbine suppliers, while GE was also engaged to construct six substations as part of the grid infrastructure expansion.

Wind Energy Holdings currently manages around 270MW of wind assets – more than 92 percent of Thailand’s wind power generation. When the projects are completed – scheduled by 2019 – the company will commercially operate a total of 720MW generation capacity from eight projects, making it the largest wind power developer and operator in Southeast Asia.

As Thailand faces rising energy demand with increasing reliance on non-indigenous sources of energy, the government has set out a new national target of 30 percent of the country’s total energy consumption to come from renewables by 2036.

The target marks a total installed renewable energy capacity of 19.7GW, including 6GW of solar, 3GW of wind, 5.6GW of solid biomass, 2.9GW of large hydropower and others, according to the latest outlook report on Thailand released this month by International Renewable Energy Agency.