British bank Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) today announced a GBP-95.5-million (USD 121.4m/EUR 111.5m) loan to the 882-MW Moray West offshore wind project in Scotland, which is being developed by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDP Renovaveis SA (ELI:EDPR) and Engie SA (EPA:ENGI).
The loan will support the next phase of the project’s construction as part of GBP 2 billion financing was completed in April.
Barclays acted as a sole pre-hedge execution for the project executing interest rate, inflation and FX hedges. It executed the hedges when the project was awarded its contract for difference in July last year and then syndicated them to the lending banks at financial close.
Following financial close, the project is able to start installation works later this year.
“The support of Barclays has contributed to Moray West reaching financial closure. This means we are now on track to commence the next phase of the project which will see the installation of the wind farm in late 2023,” said Adam Morrison, project director at Moray West.
Moray West is located 22 km (13.7 miles) off the coast of the Moray Firth and is scheduled to be completed in 2025, providing enough power for up to 1.33 million homes.
(GBP 1 = USD 1.272/EUR 1.167)
