Vineyard Wind 1, soon to be the first major US offshore windfarm, has secured a US$2.3Bn loan and will begin construction in Massachusetts as soon as this week, the project’s developer Vineyard Wind said on 15 September
In recent months, Vineyard Wind – a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables (a subsidiary of energy company Avangrid Inc) and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) – has achieved important milestones from securing final federal permits to signing a labour agreement.
Vineyard Wind chief executive Lars T Pedersen remarked, “Achieving financial close is the most important of all milestones because today we finally move from talking about offshore wind to delivering offshore wind at scale in the US. With the signing of these agreements, we now have everything in place to start construction, launching an industry that will immediately start to create jobs and make a significant contribution to meeting Massachusetts’ carbon pollution reduction targets.”
“We couldn’t have made it this far without the tremendous support we’ve received from local residents, elected officials at every level of government and so many others. We can’t thank you enough and look forward to working together for many years to come.”
The developer was advised by Santander, which also invested in the project, and secured debt financing of US$2.3Bn which includes investments from eight other banks: Bank of America, JP Morgan, BBVA, NatWest, Santander, Crédit Agricole, Natixis, BNP Paribas and MUFG Bank.
CIP senior partner and co-founder Christian T Skakkebæk said, “We’ve long believed in the financial viability of this project, and today’s announcement is an absolute confirmation of that outlook.”
“Together with our contractors and suppliers, we can now move forward with construction and start creating the first of many offshore wind jobs in the US. There is potential here for tremendous growth and investment, both in the industry and the supply chain. I’ve no doubt that this important milestone is just the beginning.”
Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800-MW project located 24 km off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and will be the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the United States.
The project is expected to generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6M tonnes per year.
Offshore work will begin in 2022 with the windfarm set to be operational from 2023.
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