Enercon Canada closes financing for 230-MW wind park

Enercon Canada Inc said today it has closed a CAD-825.5-million (USD 617m/EUR 556m) non-recourse project financing for the 230-MW Niagara Region wind farm in the Canadian province of Ontario.

The Canadian subsidiary of German wind turbine supplier Enercon also announced that the particular wind park has been commissioned a couple of days ago, on October 30, 2016. The plant consists of 77 units of Enercon E-101 3MW turbines. It has a 20-year feed-in tariff (FiT) contract with Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator.

As per the financing, Enercon Canada has secured a CAD-789.5-million construction loan, convertible into an 18-year amortising loan after the start of commercial operations, and a CAD-39-million letter of credit facility. A CAD-252.4-million portion of the financing will be covered by a guarantee offered to the lenders by Germany via its Export Credit Agency Euler-Hermes.

Separately, Canadian renewables developer Boralex Inc (TSE:BLX) announced it will exercise a previously-acquired option to buy a 25% stake in the Niagara Region wind farm. This should happen by December 31, 2016. When acquiring the option last year, Boralex said it expected to pay some CAD 60 million in equity in order to exercise it.

At present, the wind park is owned by Enercon and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation.

(CAD 1.0 = USD 0.747/EUR 0.673)

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