Financial close has been reached on three onshore wind farms in Ireland with a combined capacity of 21MW.
The projects are the 14.1MW Black Lough in County Sligo and the 4.6MW Three Tree and 2.3MW Enros in County Donegal.
All three are being developed by SMR.
Black & Veatch carried out technical due diligence on behalf of ING Bank, a branch of ING-DiBa AG, a major backer of renewable energy and sustainability projects globally.
Black & Veatch Europe director for renewable energy Robbie Gibson said: “We have a wind energy team which understands every stage in the project lifecycle.
“Our expertise in wind energy engineering, operation and economics is what makes us a trusted advisor for this kind of technical due diligence project; and we are extremely pleased to have supported SMR and ING Bank in reaching a successful financial close.”
Black & Veatch’s technical due diligence work covered environmental consulting, civil and electrical engineering evaluations and leading-edge digital wind yield analytics.
The team said it provided ING with a full technical assessment of the project’s sustainability, buildability and profitability.
Black & Veatch also delivered construction monitoring services.
SMR’s confidence in the project was such that construction was initiated ahead of financial close and Black Lough is already operational, Black & Veatch said.
Black & Veatch Europe head of wind energy Gregory Dudziak said: “The delivery of our due diligence while construction was progressing created a unique set of challenges. It required our nimble team to deal with the fast-progressing status of the project.”
ING Bank vice-president in the energy renewables and power team Markus Helmes said: “The professionalism and reliability from SMR and Black & Veatch was crucial for a successful financing execution even during a global pandemic.
“We are very proud of the achievement, and already look forward to the next opportunities to work together.”
Black & Veatch’s support for ING Bank is continuing with technical due diligence and construction monitoring on the Three Trees and Enros projects.