TenneT issues EUR-1bn green bond for offshore wind links

TenneT Holding BV said on Tuesday it has launched and priced a EUR-1-billion (USD 1.14bn) dual tranche green bond issue, the proceeds of which will finance four offshore wind transmission projects in Germany.

The Netherlands-headquartered transmission system operator (TSO) said that this is its second consecutive EURO green bonds issue and it was almost four times oversubscribed. The 10-year and 20-year bonds were sized at EUR 500 million each, with coupons of 1.000% and 1.875% respectively.

The issue is supported by five banks -- Barclays Bank Plc, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank AG, ABN AMRO Bank NV and SMBC Nikko Capital Markets Ltd. Under its newly developed Green Bond Assessment methodology, Moody's assigned a GB1 rating to these bonds, which is the highest one possible.

The proceeds of the issue will be used to finance the 800-MW DolWin1, 916-MW DolWin2, 900-MW DolWin3 and 900-MW BorWin3 high voltage direct current (HVDC) links. The first two of them are already commissioned, while the other two are seen to enter service in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

TenneT expects to realise more than 7 GW of connection capacity for offshore wind farms in the German part of the North Sea through 2019. By 2023, it anticipates to have implemented 3.5 GW of connection capacity in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. All in all, the company projects that it will spend between EUR 8 billion and EUR 10 billion on offshore wind energy projects across the Netherlands and Germany over the next 10 years.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.136)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!