Funding for wpd’s Yunlin project is close to completion and the group of investors and banks will be finalised in a few weeks. The two processes of equity and debt financing run in parallel with the result that the funding package for Yunlin will be completed by the end of the year.
“As with all our previous projects, for Yunlin, too, we are able to rely on strong, well-known partners as investors who this time can take a maximum stake of 49 percent in this project”, says Achim Berge Olsen, member of the Management Board of wpd AG. “Although we have discovered that there is great interest with regard to capital, not least from the Asian region, and we are several times oversubscribed, we will remain the majority shareholder with over 50 percent equity, and we will manage Yunlin with our team. On the debt side, we can see strong commitment on the part of the Taiwanese banks. For us it is very important to be able to integrate the know-how of the local financial institutions,” comments Berge Olsen. As well as SMBC as financial consultant, Taiwan’s largest state bank, the Bank of Taiwan, is acting as co-advisor and E-Sun as a further local advisor. “Overall, the major interest and the quality of our funding partners confirm our strategy of developing Taiwan as a market of the future.”
Background information:
At the end of April, wpd was awarded a total of one gigawatt by the Taiwanese Ministry of Trade and Industry for the implementation of the Yunlin and Guanyin offshore projects. The cost of both projects amounts to around 4 billion euros. Yunlin is being constructed eight kilometers from the coast and comprises 80 turbines in the eight-megawatt class with a total installed capacity of 640 megawatt. The first half of the turbines will be commissioned by 2020 and the other half in 2021.
About wpd AG and wpd Taiwan Energy Co. Ltd.
wpd is a developer and operator of onshore and offshore wind farms worldwide, and is actively engaged in 18 countries. The head office is in Bremen, Germany. For more than 20 years the company has been realising projects which now total 2,180 wind turbines with a total capacity of 4,400 MW. With wpd offshore GmbH, the company has reached full permitting package for 13 offshore wind farms of which five (1,300 MW) are operational. In December 2017 the German nearshore project Nordergründe was connected to the grid with a capacity of 111 MW. The Taiwanese market plays a leading role in wpd´s growth strategy and the company focusses and will continue to work on Taiwan´s future energy turnaround. 75 employees are currently realising the pipeline of 500 MW onshore wind farms, 1,000 MW offshore wind farms and 50 MW photovoltaic plants. So far, wpd together with partners realised more than 380 MW onshore in Taiwan.