Navigatie

Financial close reached for Belwind NV  – Phase 1

Construction set to start on Belwind Phase I (165 MW) off the coast of Belgium

Brussels, July 27 th 2009 – Financial close has been reached for Belwind Phase I – the first stage of the project to build Belgium’s largest (330 MW) offshore wind farm. The 613 million deal sees Colruyt Group, DHAM NV, SHV, ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV), Meewind and Rabo Project Equity, come together to invest in the construction of Belwind Phase I –a 165 MW offshore wind farm.

Construction of Phase I (55 turbines of 3 MW) is scheduled to start in  August and will take an estimated 18 months to complete. The Belwind project is located on the Bligh Bank, 46 kilometers off the coast of Zeebrugge, Belgium. The 165 MW wind farm will provide enough electricity for approximately 175,000 households and will reduce emissions of CO2 by 270,000 tonnes per year.  The 540 GWh of renewable electricity produced per year accounts for approximately 6 % of the renewable energy goals for the Belgium government.

Belwind N.V. has been established to develop the project, which constitutes one of the largest investments in Belgium. The project is expected to generate 1,300 man years of work and  is creating 70 jobs for 20 years for the maintenance of the wind farm.

A contract has been agreed with Vestas to deliver and install 55 V90, 3 MW, wind turbines; Van Oord Marine and Offshore Contractors  will manage the offshore works.  The Belgian conglomerate Seawind (Pauwels Trafo, Fabricom-GTI Suez, DEME and Iemants Staalbouw/Smulders) developed a new concept for the transformation and transportation of the electricity to the shore. Profin and Marsh created a unique insurance package with Delta Lloyd.  Electrabel will purchase the power generated by the project.

Frank Coenen, Project Director of Belwind N.V. said: “This is a real milestone – both for the development of renewable energy assets in Belgium but also for the financing of such projects. The strong backing from partners has allowed us to get to the construction stage in just three and a half years - a record-breaking short amount of time.”

Notes to editor: - SHV, Colruyt Group, DHAM NV, Meewind, ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen and Rabo Project Equity own Belwind N.V. – a breakdown of the investment is not available.- The mandated lead arrangers for the project are Dexiabank Belgium and Dexia Credit Local, Rabobank  and ASN Bank. Belwind is EIB’s first offshore wind farm to benefit directly from EIB’s funding.   EKF (Eksport Kredit Fonden) provided supporting risk guarantees.- Delta Lloyd is the lead insurer for the project, while Profin and Marsh jointly assisted as brokers.- Van Oord Dregging and Marine Contractors B.V. Rotterdam is responsible for the balance of the plant - Vestas is the Turbine supplier.

Belwind (www.belwind.eu)

Belwind N.V. is a project company that was especially founded to develop the offshore wind farm on Bligh Bank. For more information, please get in touch with:

Frank Coenen, project director Belwind NV.

Leuvensesteenweg 555/15

1930 Zaventem

T. : +32 2 725 39 20

F. : +32 2 725 39 92

Mail : info@belwind.eu

M.: +32 478 90 63 32