An international consortium of banks have agreed to provide €1.2 bn in loans to Merkur Offshore for its wind energy project in the North Sea, bringing investment in the project to a close at €1.6bn.

KfW Ipex-Bank, says it will provide €97.4mn, while parent company KfW will provide around €360mn million through its offshore wind energy programme.

The wind farm, which will have an installed capacity of 396MW , will be built around 45km north of the German island of Borkum. It will consist of 66 wind turbines that will be installed in water depths of 28 to 34m to generate electricity for some 500,000 homes.
The project has secured grid connectivity and foundations will start to be installed in mid-2017, with completion scheduled for March 2019.
Merkur Offshore is a joint venture between various parties including Partners Group (50%), InfraRed Capital Partners (25%), DEME Concessions Wind (12.5%), GE Energy Financial Services (6.25%), and L’Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie (ADEME) (6.25%).

Partner and co-head of private infrastructure at Partners Group, Brandon Prater, says: “With several coal-fired and nuclear power plants due to be retired across Germany by 2020, Merkur is a timely project and will contribute towards maintaining the country’s energy supply, while catering to the long-term shift towards renewables in the power generation mix.”