EDP, EDPR and Engie reach financial close of 950 MW wind project off the coast of Scotland

The 950 MW Moray East project off the coast of Scotland has reached financial close. A consortium of EDP Renováveis (43.3%), Engie (23.3%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (33.4%) announced a £2.6 billion (US$3.3 billion) funding package in November 2018. 

The group had secured a £2.1 billion (US$2.6 billion) debt facility and £500 million (US$629 million) ancillary facility with a group of 16 banks and financial institutions, including Denmark’s Export Credit Agency and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

At the end of November 2018, Mitsubishi sold a 30% stake in Diamond Green to Japanese utility Kansei Electric Power (Kepco) and 20% to financing company Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Company. Mitsubishi retains a 50% share in Diamond Green.

The project involves the development of Moray East Offshore Wind Farm. The wind farm, located in the North Sea, 22 km off the Aberdeenshire coast of Scotland, will use 100 units of the V164-9.5MW turbine. It generates electricity for nearly one million UK households. The project uses offshore transformer modules which transform the output of the wind turbines from 66 kilovolts (kV) to the transmission voltage of 220 kV, as well as the onshore station which transforms the electricity into 275 kV for feeding it into the national transmission grid. The project also has a complete onshore substation including 3 SVC Plus as well as the 3 offshore substation platform topsides.

Boskalis will supply and install 102 66kV inter-array cables for the project in 2020 and 2021.