Financial close has been reached on the 640MW Yunlin offshore wind farm off the coast of Taiwan.
Lead developer WPD said a group comprising 19 banks and three export credit agencies from Denmark (EKF), Germany (Euler Hermes) and the Netherlands (Atradius) are providing NT$94bn (€2.7bn) debt financing.
The banks include four from Taiwan – Cathay United Bank, CTBC Bank, E-Sun Commercial Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, with the rest from around the globe.
The other 15 are BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, ING Bank, KfW-IPEX Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Natixis, OCBC, Siemens Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
WPD chief operating officer Achim Berge Olsen said: “By achieving this important step we now can concentrate on the realisation of the project.
“We are looking forward to the cooperation with our partners and of course we are aware of the special responsibility being the first large offshore wind project with local supply chain in Taiwan.
“We are proud of paving the way for future renewable energy projects in Asia.”
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation was also financial advisor and E-Sun the local advisor.
Blanke Meier Evers and Linklaters acted as legal advisors to WPD.
The project is 73% owned by WPD and and 27% owned by a Sojitz Corp-led consortium that also includes Chugoku Electric Power, Chudenko Corporation, Shikoku Electric Power and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation.
Yunlin will be built eight kilometers off the Taiwanese west coast and will consist of 80 Siemens Gamesa 8MW turbines.
It is scheduled for completion in December 2021.