Engineering news
Greater Gabbard 504MW wind farm 23 kilometres off the coast of Suffolk in England
RWE Innogy has announced three new project partners for Galloper Wind Farm Ltd (GWFL), that heralds a green light for the £1.5 billion offshore project.
The four-way international partnership will see UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), Siemens Financial Services and Macquarie Capital, join RWE Innogy in becoming 25 per cent joint equity partners of the 336MW Galloper Offshore wind project.
RWE Innogy said that the deal will enable construction of the project off the coast of Suffolk, to commence in November 2015. The debt financing for GWFL was also closed. A consortium of 12 commercial banks and the European Investment Bank provides the £1.37 billion debt facilities. BNP Paribas acted as financial advisor to the project.
The project’s go ahead is set to create around 700 jobs during construction and around 90 jobs once operational.
Hans Bünting, chief executive of RWE Innogy, said: “Today’s announcement is the culmination of many months of successful negotiations with our partners and investors and shows that the UK is still a strong market for offshore renewables. I look forward to working together to utilise our collective experience and expertise to realise the successful construction of Galloper wind farm.”
Siemens, as well as becoming a project partner will also, through their technical division, support key aspects of the project including turbines, turbine installation and maintenance support. As part of the overall partnership agreement, Siemens will supply and install 56, six megawatt turbines for the GWFL project and deliver a 15 year maintenance contract.
Wolfgang Bischoff, head of energy finance EMEA at Siemens Financial Services, said: “Again we will work alongside some of the offshore wind industry’s most experienced players on a project that will make a significant contribution to the UK’s renewable energy goals. Achieving financial close quickly was an essential component for Galloper to remain on-track in regards to construction as well as becoming operational in time to qualify from the government’s Renewable Obligation Certificate subsidies. The speed in which it was achieved owes much to the hard work of our project partners, as well as the strong market confidence in Siemens’ technical and financial experience in this sector.”
Ed Northam, head of investment banking, UK Green Investment Bank, said that the project was another “significant milestone” in the development of the UK offshore wind industry in a year that has already seen two major projects come online and construction commence on another. Northam added: “It is the second investment in offshore wind that GIB has made at financial investment decision in the space of six months, demonstrating the role that we continue to play in making sure that complex but important green infrastructure projects can proceed.”
The Galloper project which will be located close to its existing sister project Greater Gabbard off the Suffolk coast, was awarded development rights by The Crown Estate in May 2010 and will commence operations by March 2018.