Financial close of Largest offshore wind project in APAC Banks & Supply chain gathering in Taipei

Developed by wpd, Yunlin offshore wind project, with total investment of NTD 94 billion, has reached financial close by the end of May. Today bankers, co-investors and suppliers gathering in Taipei to celebrate.

Yunlin project is by far the largest offshore wind project finance. A financing group comprising five co-investors from Japanese energy sector, three export credit agencies and a total of nineteen banks from Taiwan, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, UK, Japan and Singapore. The total financing amount of the four local banks, including CTBC, CUB, E.Sun and Fubon, is about NTD 17 billion, accounting for 24% of the project, and it also create a new high for domestic offshore wind power financing.

The opening speech of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Chen Yiling, pointed out that Yunlin Wind Farm is the first large-scale project finance of offshore wind farm in Taiwan. Four domestic banks participated in the project finance as well. Local banks and supply chain are now participating in the development and construction stage, representing their confidence in Taiwan's offshore wind power development; offshore wind power industry has taken root in Taiwan. Chen also called for the hope that the financial sector will continue to give industry support in the future, and the team led by the Bureau of Standard, Metrology and Inspection will continue to assist local banks in project financing. Let the offshore wind power industry flourish in Taiwan and build Taiwan into a pioneer in offshore wind power in APAC.

Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Thomas Prinz, said that since the German government signed a MOU on energy transition with Taiwan at the end of 2016, offshore wind power has always been a very important field. The Yunlin offshore wind project is exactly the results of cooperation between supply chains and investments from Germany and other countries.

Suppliers including SGRE, GE, Fortune, Formosa Heavy Industry, CTCI, Sinotech, Pan Formosa, Seaway Offshore Cables, Honghun and Reiju also attend the press conference to show their support.

The Speaker of the Yunlin County Council, Zonglong Shen, also specially attended the ceremony and expressed his appreciation for wpd’s dedication. Several important locals include Deputy Speaker of Yunlin County Council, Chief of Sihu Township, and former legislator Jiajun Chang also attend.

Dr. Gernot Blanke, CEO of wpd, said that the Yunlin project will start commissioning next year. The project was selected by the MoEA last April and can be completed in just two and half years, proving that wpd team is highly professional. Dr. Gernot Blanke further pointed out that the political will and administrative efficiency of the government have been internationally recognized. wpd will surely continue to invest in Taiwan.

The Yunlin Project will be built eight kilometers off the Taiwanese west coast and will consist of 80 turbines of the 8MW class provided by Siemens Gamesa. Project completion is scheduled in December 2021.

wpd AG (“wpd”) developed the project for several years and received the tariff award by the Taiwanese Government in May 2018. The Yunlin Project is 73% owned by wpd and 27% owned by a Sojitz Corp led consortium. Apart from Sojitz, other members of the Sojitz consortium include: The Chugoku Electric Power Co. Inc., Chudenko Corporation, Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc. and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation.

A financing group comprising a total of nineteen banks and three export credit agencies from Denmark (EKF), Germany (Euler Hermes) and the Netherlands (Atradius) has closed this NT$ 94 bn (EUR 2.7 bn) project financing. The bank financing group is made of four Taiwanese banks (Cathay United Bank, CTBC Bank, E-Sun Commercial Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank) and fifteen international banks (BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, ING Bank, KfW-IPEX Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Natixis, OCBC, Siemens Bank, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation). SMBC acted as Financial Advisor and E-Sun as the local Financial Advisor for the project debt financing. Blanke Meier Evers (supply agreements, equity and debt financing) and Linklaters (debt financing) have acted as legal advisors to wpd.

The Taiwanese market plays a fundamental role in wpd’s global growth strategy. wpd is taking a share in Taiwanese wind projects for more than 10 years and is nowadays represented by a local office with a headcount of about 90 colleagues. wpd has also been awarded for the Guanyin offshore wind project (360 MW) which is planned for realization in 2021.