The Windplus consortium has secured a €60m loan from the European Investment Bank for the 25MW WindFloat Atlantic project off Portugal.
Cash will part-finance the construction of the three-turbine scheme off Portugal, which is being developed by consortium companies EDPR, Repsol and Principle Power.
The deal was sealed today at a signing event between EIB vice president Emma Navarro and EDPR chief executive Joao Manso Neto.
The loan is supported by the InnovFin Energy Demonstration Project facility, which comes under the EU’s Horizon 2020 scheme.
An additional €29.9 of NER300 cash has also been allocated to the project as well as up to €6m from the Portuguese Government.
“Through this agreement, the EU bank is financing cutting-edge energy technology that will be deployed in Portugal and that will make it possible to install wind farms in locations that were not feasible until this moment, contributing to Europe’s leadership in developing innovative responses to the climate change challenge,” said Navarro.
“Windfloat explores new promising technology and once again positions EDP as the world’s leading wind power company, now pioneering a project in the offshore industry,” added EDP chief executive António Mexia.
“This new technology, suitable for deep waters such as those of Portugal, has already proved successful in its first phase under demanding conditions, and this new phase marks a steady transition to an ambitious commercial stage.”
Three MHI Vestas 8.4MW turbines will sit atop Principle Power floating foundations at the project, which is expected online in 2019.