Wind farm developer wpd said that funding for its 640MW Yunlin project in Taiwan is on the verge of completion with the group of investors and banks to be finalized in a few weeks.
Image: An offshore wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of xedos4/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The two processes of equity and debt financing run in parallel with the result that the funding package for Yunlin will be completed by the end of the year.
Wpd management board member Achim Berge Olsen said: “As with all our previous projects, for Yunlin, too, we are able to rely on strong, well-known partners as investors who this time can take a maximum stake of 49 percent in this project.
“Although we have discovered that there is great interest with regard to capital, not least from the Asian region, and we are several times oversubscribed, we will remain the majority shareholder with over 50 percent equity, and we will manage Yunlin with our team.
“On the debt side, we can see strong commitment on the part of the Taiwanese banks. For us it is very important to be able to integrate the know-how of the local financial institutions,” comments Berge Olsen.
“As well as SMBC as financial consultant, Taiwan’s largest state bank, the Bank of Taiwan, is acting as co-advisor and E-Sun as a further local advisor. “Overall, the major interest and the quality of our funding partners confirm our strategy of developing Taiwan as a market of the future.”
Background information:
At the end of April, wpd was awarded a total of one gigawatt by the Taiwanese Ministry of Trade and Industry for the implementation of the Yunlin and Guanyin offshore projects.
The cost of both projects amounts to around 4 billion euros. Yunlin is being constructed eight kilometers from the coast and comprises 80 turbines in the eight-megawatt class with a total installed capacity of 640 megawatt. The first half of the turbines will be commissioned by 2020 and the other half in 2021.
Source: Company Press Release