Gaelectric closes financing for Irish wind farms
Gaelectric, a Dublin-based developer and operator of renewable energy projects in wind, bioenergy and solar on the island of Ireland and in Great Britain, has reached financial close on a portfolio of five wind farms in Northern Ireland, which are all scheduled to entry in operations this year.
The Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (Nord LB) through the London office has agreed to provide an 18-year term loan debt for the amount of £67milion (US$97 million) to finance the portfolio. The capital investment of the five projects is estimated at £74 million (US$107.5 million).
The five onshore wind farms are the following:
- 12 MW Monnaboy wind farm in Co. Derry, which is already in operation.
- 10 MW Cloonty wind farm in Ballymoney Co., which is under construction
- 11.5 MW Inishative wind farm in Co. Tyrone, which is under construction
- 5 MW Corby Knowe in Co. Antrim, which is under construction
- 13.8 MW Cregganconroe inc. Crockbrack in Co. Tyrone, which is under construction
DLA Piper, McCann Fitzgerald, A&L Goodbody acted as legal advisors. With DNV GL and Wind Prospect acting as technical advisors. Deloitte (model), KPMG (tax) and Crotty (insurance).
According to sources, Gaelectric chief operating officer Barry Gavin, said:
“We're delighted to have worked once again with Nord/LB in securing competitive project finance for the roll-out of our onshore portfolio of wind assets in Ireland. These projects also represent a significant milestone towards our near term goal of achieving around 400 MW of generating wind assets on the island of Ireland by 2017.”
