Financial Close Reached for Taiwanese Offshore Wind Farm | Offshore Wind - Offshore WIND
Financial Close Reached for Taiwanese Offshore Wind Farm | Offshore Wind
Financial Close Reached for Taiwanese Offshore Wind Farm
The 1 GW Hai Long offshore wind project in Taiwan, being developed jointly by Northland Power and Mitsui & Co., has reached financial close for its 20-year TWD 117 billion (about EUR 3.4 billion) non-recourse green financing.
According to Northland Power, the TWD 117 billion debt amount at closing changed from the TWD 118 billion at signing financial agreements as a result of the final foreign exchange rates on closing.
The non-recourse green project financing will be provided by over 15 international and local lenders with support from multiple Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) including Export Development Canada (EDC), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), UK Export Finance (UKEF), Export Finance Australia (EFA), Export Finance Norway (Eksfin) and Credendo – Export Credit Agency of Belgium.
The 1,044 MW Hai Long development will comprise two offshore wind farms that will be developed in three stages, with Hai Long 2 split into two phases: the 300 MW Hai Long 2a and the 232 MW Hai Long 2b. Hai Long 3 will have an installed capacity of 512 MW.
Hai Long’s total cost is projected to be approximately CAD 9 billion (about 6.3 billion).
The project is being developed about 45-70 kilometres off the Changhua coast in the Taiwan Straits. According to Northland Power, Hai Long has achieved several milestones, including in-water construction and fabrication activities, all environmental approvals, major permits, and construction contracts.
Planned to be fully commissioned in 2025, the Hai Long offshore wind project is expected to power 1.55 million households in Taiwan with its 73 Siemens Gamesa SG 14-222 DD wind turbines.
ADVERTISE ON OFFSHOREWIND.BIZ
Get in front of your target audience in one move! OffshoreWIND.biz is read by thousands of offshore wind professionals daily.
Follow offshoreWIND.biz on:
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.