Capital Support Awarded

The European Investment Bank (EIB) approved and signed development bank financing for the West of Duddon Sands Offshore Windfarm, a 389 MW project in the Irish Sea off northwest England. The EIB project page records total signatures of €209.3 million for the scheme, with the financing structured in two tranches: €92.2 million signed on 31 January 2014 and a further €117.1 million signed on 11 September 2014. These amounts are listed under the project’s signature details, which together sum to €209,303,316.57 in EIB support for the wind farm’s development, construction, operation and maintenance. The project promoters identified on the page are DONG Energy A/S and Iberdrola SA, each normally entitled to up to 50% of the proposed EIB finance. Earlier in the project cycle, the EIB summary had indicated a proposed EIB finance amount of around GBP 170 million (approximately EUR 203 million) against a total project cost estimated at GBP 1,360 million (approximately EUR 1,627 million). The final signed value of roughly €209.3 million therefore reflects the concluded loan arrangements rather than the initial indicative figure. This concessional debt financing supports an offshore wind farm comprising 108 turbines on monopile foundations located about 14 kilometres southwest of Barrow-in-Furness, with grid connection assets to be transferred to an independent OFTO after construction, as set out in the EIB project description.