Released December 16, 2013 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - Germany's budding offshore wind sector has received a welcome financial boost with a 500 million ($688 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) that will help speed up the connection of offshore windfarms to the national electricity grid.
The loan has been granted to Dutch grid operator TenneT TSO BV (Arnhem, Netherlands), which is responsible for connecting many of Germany's offshore windfarms in the North Sea to the grid. Specifically, the money will be used in the construction of three high voltage direct current (HVDC) lines - HelWin1, SylWin1 and DolWin1 -- which will be used to connect and transfer up to 2,200-megawatts (MW) of offshore wind power to the German grid.
Over the past 18 months the company has been at the centre of a battle with numerous German energy firms that have pulled investment in new windfarms, claiming TenneT has been too slow in connecting existing windfarms to the mainland. Last summer, RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) postponed its first German offshore wind project - the 295 MW Nordsee 1 windfarm - over grid connection issues. For additional information see July 31, 2012, article - RWE Delays Nordsee Offshore Project.
"The Bank sees the expansion of electricity networks as one of its central tasks in the coming years," explained Wilhelm Molterer, the EIB Vice-President responsible for the Bank's German operations. "They are part of Europe's strategic infrastructure. A key element is the connection of offshore wind farms. This is also playing a decisive role in Germany's energy policy turnaround. With today's loan the EIB is also supporting TenneT's pioneering efforts to tackle the special challenges of offshore power transmission."
The EIB is one of the biggest financiers of renewable energy in Europe and has so far supplied loans of almost 5 billion ($6.88 billion) for the offshore wind energy sector alone.
Otto Jager, Chief Financial Officer with TenneT, commented: "With over 1 billion ($1.37 billion) of total funds committed , the EIB has proven to be a reliable and outstanding financing partner for our onshore and now also offshore transmission projects. This transaction highlights the financeability of our offshore investments and therewith our financial solidity."
As part of Germany's energy transition, the new coalition government has a stated goal of reaching an installed generation capacity of 6,500 MW of offshore wind energy by 2020. TenneT is the process of commissioning and constructing connection links for 6,200 MW of that total. The previous German government had pledged to create 10,000 MW of offshore wind energy in the same period.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the Industrial Info "Contact Us" page.
The loan has been granted to Dutch grid operator TenneT TSO BV (Arnhem, Netherlands), which is responsible for connecting many of Germany's offshore windfarms in the North Sea to the grid. Specifically, the money will be used in the construction of three high voltage direct current (HVDC) lines - HelWin1, SylWin1 and DolWin1 -- which will be used to connect and transfer up to 2,200-megawatts (MW) of offshore wind power to the German grid.
Over the past 18 months the company has been at the centre of a battle with numerous German energy firms that have pulled investment in new windfarms, claiming TenneT has been too slow in connecting existing windfarms to the mainland. Last summer, RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) postponed its first German offshore wind project - the 295 MW Nordsee 1 windfarm - over grid connection issues. For additional information see July 31, 2012, article - RWE Delays Nordsee Offshore Project.
"The Bank sees the expansion of electricity networks as one of its central tasks in the coming years," explained Wilhelm Molterer, the EIB Vice-President responsible for the Bank's German operations. "They are part of Europe's strategic infrastructure. A key element is the connection of offshore wind farms. This is also playing a decisive role in Germany's energy policy turnaround. With today's loan the EIB is also supporting TenneT's pioneering efforts to tackle the special challenges of offshore power transmission."
The EIB is one of the biggest financiers of renewable energy in Europe and has so far supplied loans of almost 5 billion ($6.88 billion) for the offshore wind energy sector alone.
Otto Jager, Chief Financial Officer with TenneT, commented: "With over 1 billion ($1.37 billion) of total funds committed , the EIB has proven to be a reliable and outstanding financing partner for our onshore and now also offshore transmission projects. This transaction highlights the financeability of our offshore investments and therewith our financial solidity."
As part of Germany's energy transition, the new coalition government has a stated goal of reaching an installed generation capacity of 6,500 MW of offshore wind energy by 2020. TenneT is the process of commissioning and constructing connection links for 6,200 MW of that total. The previous German government had pledged to create 10,000 MW of offshore wind energy in the same period.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the Industrial Info "Contact Us" page.
