Fin close reached on 731.5-MW Dutch offshore wind park

The Blauwwind consortium said today it has reached financial close on the Borssele III & IV offshore wind projects in the Dutch North Sea totalling 731.5 MW.

The consortium is comprised of Swiss investment manager Partners Group Holding (VTX:PGHN) with a 45% stake, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (AMS:RDSA) with 20%, Mitsubishi Corp's (TYO:8058) fully-owned subsidiary Diamond Generating Europe (DGE) with 15%, Eneco Holding NV with 10% and Van Oord NV also with 10%.

The consortium said the financial close sets in motion the construction of the wind farms which will see the installation of 77 of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind's V164 9.5 MW turbines. The main construction work is scheduled to begin in the final quarter of 2019 and commercial production is expected in early 2021. The budget for the construction of the facilities is EUR 1.3 billion (USD 1.5bn).

Shell and Eneco will each purchase 50% of the power generated by the wind farms under 15-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the consortium. Van Oord is responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction of the foundations and inter array cables, while the offshore substation Borssele Beta will be designed and built by Dutch transmission system operator TenneT Holding BV.

During the first 15 years of operation, the wind farms will get a guaranteed price of EUR 54.49 per MWh under the Dutch SDE+ scheme, after which they will sell power at prevailing rates in the wholesale power market.

Kees-Jan Rameau, chief strategic growth officer at Eneco Group, said the financial close of Borssele III/IV "means that even at this record-breaking low subsidy level, our offshore wind project is attractive enough to allow adequate returns for the equity and debt financing."

The Blauwwind consortium won the right to develop, construct and operate the Borssele III & IV wind farms by the Dutch government in December 2016. Partners Group agreed to buy a 45% stake in the projects in January this year.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.159)

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