Danish renewable energy developer Ørsted has secured a financing facility backed by a club of export credit agencies (ECAs) to fund an offshore wind project in Taiwan.

The Changhua 4 wind farm, which is already under construction, will have 583 megawatts of capacity once completed and sit alongside three other wind farms, two of which are already operational.

The deal was announced alongside a 50% investment in the wind farm by Taiwanese insurer Cathay Life, bringing the total raised by Ørsted to DKr11.6bn (US$1.63bn). A company spokesperson declined to specify how much of the figure comes from the ECA-backed facility.

Ørsted says the deal is backed by Belgian ECA Credendo, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), Export Finance Australia, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Taiwan’s National Credit Guarantee Administration (NCGA) and UK Export Finance. It is the first offshore wind project to be guaranteed by NCGA.

EIFO says in a separate statement that it is covering DKr1bn of the financing. The agency says the Changhua 4 project has an offtake agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and a backup agreement with Taipower, a state-owned utility.

The commercial banks providing the funds are ANZ, Citi, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, CTBC, DBS, E.Sun Bank, First Commercial Bank, Fubon Bank, HSBC, KDB, Land Bank of Taiwan, Mega Bank, OCBC, Standard Chartered and Société Générale, according to a list shared with GTR by Ørsted.

The company declined to disclose the tenor or interest rate of the facility.

After the sale to Cathay Life, Ørsted retains a 50% stake in the project and is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, with a 20-year operation and maintenance deal.

“This landmark investment by Cathay Life, the largest made by a Taiwan life insurer in an offshore wind farm, is backed by international and local banks as well as foreign and local export credit agencies,” says Per Mejnert Kristensen, Ørsted’s Asia Pacific CEO.

“The transaction not only underlines their confidence in Ørsted’s track record in building and operating offshore wind farms but also sets a new green investment paradigm in Taiwan,” he says.

Peter Boeskov, chief commercial officer for large corporates at EIFO, says the agency’s “participation in Greater Changhua 4 is a testament to our commitment to sustainable energy solutions and our confidence in Ørsted’s expertise and experience in offshore wind energy”.

EIFO is a major backer to wind energy projects around the world due to Denmark’s large renewable energy industry that includes developers such as Ørsted as well as facilities of turbine manufacturers Siemens Gamesa and Vestas.

ECAs have piled into offshore wind projects in Taiwan in recent years, including through a US$3.6bn deal for the Hai Long wind farm in late 2023, and a 2020 offshore development led by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.