Moray East Offshore Wind FarmConfirms financial close

6/12/18, 3:37 PM

Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Ltd, known as ‘Moray East’, (a 950MW offshore wind farm in the Outer Moray Firth, 40km from the North East Coast of Scotland) announced that it has reached financial close – a major milestone marking the commencement of £2.6 bn of project finance investment.

At a briefing in the House of Commons, Moray East Board Directors Dan Finch and Matteo Maino briefed the Rt Hon Claire Perry MP, Minister for Energy & Clean Growth about the project which will:

Deliver 950MW new renewable generation capacity;
Be capable of meeting the average needs of ca. 950 000 UK households;
Cut the cost of offshore generation from £140/MWhr for windfarms being built today to only £57.50 – a reduction of almost two thirds.

The Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Limited consortium is currently owned by EDPR (43.3%), Diamond Green Limited, which is partly owned by DGE (33.4%) and ENGIE (23.3%).

Moray East Board Director Dan Finch said:

“Moray East marks a major milestone in the progress of the offshore wind industry. Not only will it deliver plentiful, sustainable, renewable power, it will do so at a highly competitive price – to the economic advantage of both the household and the country.

“Last month we announced The Port of Cromarty Firth will be used as the project’s intermediate port during construction, and in the long term, we announced in summer that Fraserburgh will be the operations and maintenance base for the lifetime of the windfarm.

“Throughout the development process we have worked with local and national stakeholders to enable advantage to be taken of the new opportunities brought by offshore wind. We are grateful to all those who have engaged with us to take the project to this point and look forward to continuing to work with them through the construction, delivery and operation which will enable those opportunities to be realised.

Notes To Editors

Moray East Project Statistics

Capacity: 950MW
Location: UK, Moray Firth, closest point to shore, 22km from shore.
Turbines: V164 – 9.5MW
Power for average requirements of ca. 950, 000 UK homes.

Project Ownership & Finance

On 28 November 2018, EDP Renováveis, S.A. (“EDPR”), 82.6% controlled by EDP, through its subsidiary, EDPR UK Limited (“EDPR UK”), announced that Moray Offshore Windfarm (East) Limited (“MOWEL”) consortium, currently owned by EDPR (43.3%), Diamond Green Limited, which is partly owned by Diamond Generating Europe Limited (33.4%) and ENGIE (23.3%), has successfully secured financing for the construction of its 950 MW offshore wind farm.

The project financing agreements were signed on 28th November with a syndicate of commercial banks as well as EKF, Denmark’s Export Credit Agency (“EKF”) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (“JBIC”). The financing is composed of both project finance, which includes a senior debt facility of £ 2.1 billion, along with other debt facilities of £ 0.5 billion, and an equity bridge loan facility to cover part of the equity needs. Financial close occurred on 6th of December.

In September 2017, MOWEL was awarded a 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) for the delivery of 950 MW of offshore wind generation at £57.5/MWh (2012 tariff-based). The wind farm is expected to be operational by 2022.

Moray East Project Timeline

2010 – project development commenced when development rights were won in the UK’s 3rd round of offshore wind licencing. The Moray Firth Zone (Zone 1) was split into two, to enable Moray East to be developed ahead of Moray West, as there were constraints in the west of the zone. (Constraints in the west eased, and development of Moray West commenced in 2016).
2014 – planning consent was awarded by the Scottish Government (offshore works) and Aberdeenshire Council (onshore works)
2017 – A 950MW Contract for Difference (CfD) was won in the UK Government’s 2nd competitive CfD auction. The CfD provides a contract for electricity for 15 years at £57.50/MWhr
2018 – Project Announces Signing of Finance Agreements and Achieves Financial Close
2019 – 2022 – Construction & Commencement of Operation.

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Moray East Key Facts

Consent for construction of up to 1,116MW granted in 2016
CfD for 950MW awarded in 2017
Connection to National Grid at a new substation to be constructed at New Deer in Aberdeenshire via underground cable (planning permission granted by Aberdeenshire Council in 2014)
Total underground export cable corridor route 86km (52km offshore and 34km onshore)
Total wind farm Area – 295km2
Maximum turbine blade-tip height – 204m (669 feet)
Minimum distance from shore – 22km (13.5 miles).