Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) has reached financial close on the 47MW Tysvaer wind farm in southern Norway.
The project, which is located in the Tysvaer municipality within Rogaland Fylke, will feature 11 Siemens Gamesa turbines that will produce 150 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year.
It is the third GIG project using Siemens Gamesa technology currently under construction in the Nordics. The combined capacity of the three, which includes Buheii also in Norway and Hornamossen in Sweden, is more than 325MW.
Tysvaer will provide power to Eramet Norway, ensuring a stable and long-term power supply to the latter’s Norwegian smelters in Porsgrunn, Sauda and Kvinesdal.
The power purchase agreement (PPA) is backed by a guarantee issued under the Power Purchase Guarantee Scheme administered by the Norwegian Export Credit Guarantee Agency.
The scheme aims to ensure that Norwegian industrial companies with high electricity demands can enter into long-term power contracts at a predictable price.
GIG said that by using an innovative portfolio financing structure, it has been able to reduce financing costs and thus enable the project teams to prioritise local content and deliver competitively priced energy.
Around 200 jobs will be supported during the construction of both Tysvaer and Buheii.
Nordisk Vindkraft will act as construction manager and local company Risa will be responsible for building the roads, turbine foundations and installing the electric cables.
Risa has also developed a site plan to avoid the spread of coronavirus, and a dedicated staff member will ensure that all new government regulations related to Covid-19 are adhered to.