Enercon Canada has closed C$825.5m in non-recourse project financing for the 230MW Niagara Region wind farm in Ontario, Canada.
The financing consists of a construction loan of approximately C$789.5m that will convert into an 18-year amortizing loan after the start of commercial operations.
There is also a letter of credit facility of about C$39m.
Approximately C$252.4m of the financing will be covered by a guarantee offered to the lenders by Germany through its export credit agency Euler-Hermes.
The project comprises 77 Enercon E-101 3MW wind turbines and was commissioned on 30 October.
It has a 20-year feed-in tariff contract with Ontario’s independent electricity system operator.
The wind farm created 700 jobs during construction and another 25 direct long-term jobs during operations.
It is owned by Enercon and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corp, with Boralex planning to acquire 25% of Enercon’s interest in the project by 31 December.
MUFG acted as administrative agent, collateral agent and account bank on the financing.
KfW IPEX-Bank acted as Hermes agent and technical bank, while Landesbank Baden-Württemberg acted as insurance agent. The documentation banks were MUFG and KfW IPEX-Bank.
The mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners were KfW IPEX-Bank, MUFG, CaixaBank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, ABN Amro Capital USA and DZ Bank New York Branch.
Blake, Cassels & Graydon acted as legal counsel to the lenders, while Fasken, Martineau DuMoulin was legal counsel to Enercon.
Plan A Capital acted as financial advisor to Enercon.
Image: Enercon
