Positive
Project advancing - milestone achieved
High Impact
Major milestone or critical setback
Final investment decision and financial close for the 402 MW Veja Mate Offshore Wind Farm were achieved around the end of June / start of July 2015. The project sponsors Highland Group Holdings, Siemens Financial Services and Copenhagen Infrastructure II (managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners) secured a total project investment budget of about EUR 1.9 billion, underpinned by a large non‑recourse senior debt package of approximately EUR 1,275 million provided by a consortium of eight lenders. The lending group included the German development bank KfW via its offshore wind programme, the Danish export credit agency Eksport Kredit Fonden, and commercial banks Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, KfW IPEX‑Bank, Natixis, Santander and SMBC. Equity was contributed by the three sponsors through share capital and mezzanine loans. A later project update notes that bank financing was completed on 1 July 2015, and that first power was achieved 18 months after financial close, confirming this timeframe. This financial close enabled construction of Veja Mate, located about 95 km northwest of Borkum in the German Bight and connected via the BorWin2 offshore grid connection, to proceed towards planned completion in 2017.