Global law firm Eversheds has advised leading energy company SSE as a shareholder in UK’s Walney offshore wind farm, which has just reached financial close on its £242 million project financing.
Walney offshore wind farm is a joint partnership between DONG Energy (50.1%), SSE (25.1%) and OPW (24.8%). The refinancing has been provided by a consortium of five banks, providing senior debt finance of about £224m ($364m).
The consortium includes the government-backed UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) which is lending about £45m. This will be GIB’s first transaction in the UK offshore wind sector.
Walney 1 and Walney 2 are located 14km off the northwest coast of England, and each wind farm consists of 51 Siemens 3.6MW turbines. The wind farms have been operational since July 2011 and June 2012 respectively and can supply up to 320,000 homes a year with renewable power.
The Eversheds team was led by Partner Indraj Mangat, assisted by Principal Associate Luis Martin.
Indraj commented:
“This latest project financing is testament to the strength of the UK offshore wind sector. As a firm, this is an area in which we have a great deal of expertise and we look forward to advising on future projects.”
