Germany: EIB and Parkwind start technologically advanced offshore wind farm project
Windpark Arcadis Ost 1 is the first wind farm to be built entirely by using floating platforms.
€570 million for Parkwind’s first investment in Germany from the EIB and nine other institutions.
Transaction backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and nine other institutions are providing a total of €570 million to build the Arcadis Ost 1 wind farm — one of the most innovative wind farm projects in Europe — with EIB funding amounting to €150 million. Also contributing are KBC, Belfius, Helaba, KfW, IPEX-Bank, Rabobank, Société Général, ING and EKF.
The EIB loan will benefit from a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. Offshore installation works are due to begin in 2022, and the wind farm, which will generate power for the equivalent of 290 000 households, is expected to be fully operational in 2023.
The Belgian wind farm specialist Parkwind will use new, entirely floating platforms to erect the windmills in the Baltic Sea northeast of the island of Rügen. The new technology is expected to be more efficient on difficult seabeds than the jack-up vessels that have normally been used.
So far, Parkwind has implemented wind farm projects exclusively in Belgium, with this German wind farm being the company’s first international project. After winning the competition for this project in 2018, Parkwind obtained its permit from the government of the federal state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in March 2021.
“The EIB is proud to have acted as the anchor investor together with EFSI for this innovative project,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle, who is responsible for environment, climate action and the circular economy and has oversight of EIB operations in Germany. “Offshore wind farms are a cornerstone of the EU Green Deal to help reach the goal of a net-zero-emissions economy in Europe.”
EU Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni said: “To reach our goal of climate neutrality by 2050, we need to massively expand our use of renewable energy sources. This new offshore wind farm, supported by the Investment Plan for Europe and the European Investment Bank, is an important step in this direction. With its innovative, more efficient technologies, it will help to deliver enough clean energy for 290 000 households, providing a major boost to the green transition in Germany.”
Eric Antoons, co-CEO of Parkwind, commented: “Being joined by such a strong group of lenders gives us further confidence in the pursuit of our mission and our ambition to grow internationally. We now focus on delivering the project and contributing to Germany’s transition towards renewable energy sources.”
Energy minister of the German federal state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Christian Pegel said: “Since the approval of the first offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea in 2011, offshore wind has not only contributed to the energy transition, but also to enormous economic development in our region. With Arcadis Ost 1, now the fourth offshore wind farm off the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, we are continuing this success story. In the future, we want to use offshore wind to generate climate-neutral hydrogen, making our region even more attractive for new business settlements.”
Poland: Ignitis Group borrows EUR 60m from EIB for its first wind farm project
– The Lithuanian utility will carry out the project through its subsidiary Pomerania Wind Farm
– New onshore wind farms with a combined capacity of up to 94 MW will be located near the Baltic coast in northern Poland.
– The operation, backed by the Investment Plan for Europe, will help decarbonize the energy sector in Poland and improve the energy mix.
More windfarms will see the light near the Baltic coast in Poland. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a loan agreement with Pomerania Wind Farm sp.z o.o., a subsidiary of Ignitis Renewables, which is part of Ignitis Group, a large-scale Lithuanian energy company. The EIB has agreed to lend PLN 258m (approx. EUR 60m) for the construction and operation of a medium-size onshore windfarm, consisting of 29 turbines, with a total installed capacity of 94 MW. The loan will cover around 47 % of the project investment costs. The EIB financing is supported by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, in which the European Commission and the EIB are strategic partners.
The wind park is located in the Pomeranian Voivodship, approximately 50 km from the coastline of the Bay of Gdansk, in the municipalities of Dzierzgon and Stary Targ. Works have already started in July last year, and the project is expected to be operational in the spring of 2021. The wind park has an expected capacity of 300 GWh of electricity, potentially supplying around 75,000 households with the clean energy generated by the project, on an annual basis.
EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska commented: “There is huge potential for generating energy from renewable sources in Poland, and this project is yet another example of how wind farms can contribute to the country’s energy mix and sustainable development. The EIB has considerable expertise in financing wind energy around the world. With our new Energy Lending Policy, we are committed to supporting even more such projects and we are happy that this particular project is very much in line with our climate objectives”.
Dominykas Tučkus, Board Member and Head of Business Development at Ignitis Group, said: “Sustainable development through the implementation of renewable energy projects not only in Lithuania but also abroad is top priority for the Ignitis Group in its Strategy 2030. Through these projects, we aim to increase our competitiveness and make a significant contribution to accelerated decarbonisation of energy sector”.
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy, said: “I warmly welcome that EIB financing under the Investment Plan is facilitating the construction of a new wind farm in Poland. Thanks to EU support, around 75,000 Polish households stand to benefit from clean energy. This is a tangible example of what the European Green Deal means concretely for Polish citizens. With every investment of this kind, we take another step closer to our goal of making the European Union climate neutral by 2050.”
Ignitis Group is an international energy company and one of the largest energy groups in the Baltic region. Its’ mission is to make the world more energy smart. Group companies produce, distribute and supply energy, as well as develop smart energy solutions. Ignitis Group gives priority to green energy, aiming to become the region’s main competence center for new energy and a leader in distributed energy solutions in the Baltic Sea region and beyond.
Additional information about the EIB commitment for renewable energy sources:
In 2019, the EIB invested around EUR 4bn in renewable energy projects around the world, of which €945m for onshore wind farms. The new Energy Lending Policy, approved by the EIB Board of Directors in November 2019, is likely to trigger more investments in this sector. Based on recent dramatic cost reductions, the share of renewable energy technologies will increase substantially. Wind and solar power, in particular, are projected to represent the majority of low-carbon energy sources by 2050.
The EU has agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 by at least 40% from 1990 levels. In this context, the EU climate and energy framework includes a binding target of at least a 32% share of renewables in the final energy mix by 2030. This is likely to translate into a share of around 60% of renewables in the electricity energy mix by 2030, with around 30% from variable sources (wind and solar).