NTR has completed the combined financing of the 21MW Murley onshore wind farm and the 59MW Ockendon solar farm in the UK.
The transaction, which was in partnership with Rabobank who provided approximately £38m of debt, brings the two wind and solar projects together in an two-stage financial structure.
This will enable NTR to finance fully merchant revenues for Murley Wind Farm by combining them with Ockendon solar project revenues which are backed by a power purchase agreement (PPA) with BT Group who will use 100% of the power generated by Ockendon over 10 years.
The 58.8W solar farm at Ockendon is considered to be one of Europe’s largest solar farms built on a repurposed landfill site and is situated close to London, where construction is already underway.
Murley wind farm is a 21.6MW ready-to-build project with six wind turbines located in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
Construction of this project is expected to commence in the coming months.
Once fully operational in Q4 2023, the sites will have a combined capacity of just over 80MW, producing enough clean power to serve over 37,000 homes.
Pinsent Masons acted as legal advisors to NTR, and Natural Power acted as technical advisor, while Rabobank was advised by DLA Piper.
NTR head of structured finance Nick Forster said: “NTR and Rabobank are both dedicated to driving the European clean energy transition, and we are particularly pleased to have partnered with Rabobank on these two projects in such an innovative way.
“We collaborated well to develop a financing structure that enables a merchant project like Murley to be built to provide much needed clean power in Northern Ireland while preserving optimal sustainable returns for our investors.”
Rabobank head of project finance renewables Europe Marc Schmitz said: “Rabobank is pleased to have supported NTR in structuring and financing Murley and Ockendon.
“Both projects will directly contribute to the decarbonization goals in the UK, making this transaction a perfect fit with Rabobank’s mission to be the bank of the energy transition.
“This transaction also represents a milestone in our collaboration and relationship with NTR, a leading developer in renewable energy projects.”
BT Group chief procurement officer Cyril Pourrat said: “As one of the largest private purchasers of electricity in the UK, today’s announcement not only underpins our commitment to use 100% renewable electricity worldwide where markets allow, it sends a clear signal to the market that renewable energy is a key enabler to reach net zero by 2050 in the UK.”