LONDON --
The U.K. Green Investment Bank placed 461 million pounds ($767
million) into two wind farms off the British coast to help the
developers recycle their cash back into new projects.
The bank, capitalized in 2012 with 3 billion pounds from the U.K.
government, said it was putting 241 million pounds into a 50 percent
stake in Dong Energy A/S’s Westermost Rough offshore wind farm along
with Chiyoda-Ku, Japan-based Marubeni Corp. It’ll pay out another 220
million pounds for a 10 percent stake in RWE AG’s Gwynt y Mor project.
The bank’s goal is to “directly invest to help
developers recycle their capital into the next wave of newrenewable
energy projects,” GIB Chief Executive Officer Shaun Kingsbury said today
in an e-mailed statement. It also plans “to create a demonstration
effect, which others will follow.”
The cash injection from the bank and Marubeni is a
boost to the U.K. offshore wind industry after SSE Plc last week said it
was slowing down its pace of investment in the technology, citing
“limited” support. Developers have canceled more than 5.5 gigawatts of
planned capacity since November.
The bank “is playing a game-changing role in financing
our transition to a green economy,” U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable
said in the statement. The bank has now invested more than 600 million
pounds in five offshore wind farms, helping to mobilize 1.3 billion
pounds in total, he said.
The U.K. government is relying on offshore wind power
to help the country meet its binding renewable energy and emissions
reduction targets. Ministers have said 10 gigawatts of total capacity is
possible by 2020, up from 3.7 gigawatts at the end of 2013, or more
than half of global capacity.
Siemens Turbines
Projects canceled in the past half year include farms
that would be in deep waters or far out to sea, and therefore harder to
build. The industry group RenewableUK estimates there’s still a pipeline
of U.K. offshore wind projects totaling almost 15 gigawatts.
German manufacturer Siemens AG on March 25 said it
will invest 160 million pounds in two wind-turbine plants in northern
England to tap the world’s biggest offshore wind market, in a sign of
confidence in the U.K industry. The 210-megawatt Westermost Rough plant
will use 6-megawatt Siemens machines, the Green Investment Bank said.
Dong put the value of the 50 percent stake sold at 240
million pounds, and said that the total transaction with the bank and
Marubeni will reach about 500 million pounds, when construction costs
are included.
Tripling Capacity
“Today’s agreement enables us to free up capital to
continue our investment program and meet our 2020 target,” Sam Leupold,
executive vice president of Dong’s wind business, said in an e-mailed
statement. “By 2020 we want to triple our installed capacity of offshore
wind.”
Today’s deal is Dong’s first with the investment bank,
and its second with Marubeni, after selling the Japanese company a 49.9
percent-stake of the 172-megawatt Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm in
2011. RWE’s 576-megawatt Gwynt y Mor project is in late stages of construction and will also use Siemens turbines, the bank said.
“This is planned to be the second direct investment
from the Green Investment Bank into one of our U.K. offshore wind
farms,” Hans Buenting, chief executive officer of RWE’s Innogy unit,
said in the bank’s statement. “Our aim is to raise additional capital
for the extension of renewable energy.”
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/03/u-k-green-investment-bank-pours-767-million-into-offshore-wind
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