Siemens wind power has received an €822mn debt financing facility from a group of international banks to finance an offshore wind farm off the coast of North Germany.

Investment firm Blackstone will provide the equity for the project, while Commerzbank, KfW Ipex-Bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Dexia, Lloyds, Santander, Siemens Bank and KfW will provide the debt financing portion of the deal.

Danish ECA EKF is guaranteeing approximately one third of the deal.

The ECA believes that providing financing for offshore wind farms is considered especially high-risk by most financial players.

The funds will be used to deliver 80 wind turbines for the 288 MW Meerwind offshore wind farm, which will be built in the North Sea, north west of Heligoland.

The farm will produce enough electricity to service 400,000 German households and eliminate what corresponds to 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually once completed in 2013.

The 80 3.6 MW wind turbines delivered by Siemens will be produced in its factory in the Danish town of Brande.