Equinor ASA and Polenergia SA have reached financial close securing over EUR 3 billion for Baltyk II and over EUR 3 billion for Baltyk III (around $6.81 billion in total), after the 50-50 co-venturers reached a final investment decision to proceed with the wind projects on the Polish side of the Baltic Sea.
“Financial close means that the conditions precedent to loan disbursement have been fulfilled”, Warsaw-based Polenergia, a renewable power developer and distributor, said in an online statement.
Equinor manager for Poland Michal Jerzy Kolodziejczyk said in a separate press release, “The Baltyk 2 and 3 offshore wind farms represent one of the most significant infrastructure developments in Poland’s modern history. Together, they constitute the largest project finance undertaking ever completed in the Polish energy sector”.
The projects will have a combined capacity of 1,440 megawatts (720 MW each), enough to power two million Polish homes, according to the owners. Full commercial generation is expected 2028.
“The individual project finance packages will fund the capital investment and the other expenses of each of the projects during the construction process, totaling approximately EUR 7.2 billion”, Equinor said.
“Following strong interest from lenders, Baltyk 2 and Baltyk 3 have secured competitive terms and conditions”, the Norwegian majority state-owned energy major added. “The final group, comprising of around 30 financial institutions, includes the most experienced in the sector along with many of Equinor’s core banks, the Nordic Investment Bank and the European Investment Bank”.
The EIB pledged EUR 700 million, making it the biggest lender for the projects, the European Union-owned bank said separately.
“As part of the project financing package, the Polish export credit agency, KUKE provides guarantees, and the German export credit agency, Euler Hermes, provides cover policies for lenders”, Polenergia said.
Polenergia chief executive Adam Purwin said the partners “obtained exceptionally favorable terms in what has been a challenging market in recent months”.
Equinor and Polenergia took the FID May 19, approving a total of 100 wind turbines. These will be placed 22-37 kilometers (13.67-22.99 miles) off the Polish coast. The operations and maintenance base will be in Leba in the northern region of Gdansk.
“Onshore construction work is ongoing, fabrication of key components has started, while marine operations will start next year”, Equinor said.
Equinor said it is in charge of construction and will be the operator. “Danske Commodities, an Equinor subsidiary, will provide route-to-market services including balancing and power offtake for the first three years of operations”, it added.
“Equinor and Polenergia have engaged more than a dozen major contractors, including the experienced Polish companies Tele-Fonika Kable and Enprom”, Polenergia said. “Additional investment from Polish industry has been secured through separate contracts, which will make a significant contribution to the local content of the project and country’s economy”.
The projects have secured 25-year contracts for difference (CFD) from the Polish government, as announced by Equinor May 4, 2021. Under a CFD, a company either pays or is paid for the difference between the market price of power and the strike price agreed in advance with a public entity. The company is entitled to receive payments when the market price is below the strike price, according to the European Commission.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
element
var scriptTag = document.createElement(‘script’);
scriptTag.src = url;
scriptTag.async = true;
scriptTag.onload = implementationCode;
scriptTag.onreadystatechange = implementationCode;
location.appendChild(scriptTag);
};
var div = document.getElementById(‘rigzonelogo’);
div.innerHTML += ” +
‘
‘ +
”;
var initJobSearch = function () {
//console.log(“call back”);
}
var addMetaPixel = function () {
if (-1 > -1 || -1 > -1) {
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
} else if (0 > -1 && 90 > -1)
{
/*Meta Pixel Code*/
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1517407191885185’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
/*End Meta Pixel Code*/
}
}
// function gtmFunctionForLayout()
// {
//loadJS(“https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-K6ZDLWV6VX”, initJobSearch, document.body);
//}
// window.onload = (e => {
// setTimeout(
// function () {
// document.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”, function () {
// // Select all anchor elements with class ‘ui-tabs-anchor’
// const anchors = document.querySelectorAll(‘a .ui-tabs-anchor’);
// // Loop through each anchor and remove the role attribute if it is set to “presentation”
// anchors.forEach(anchor => {
// if (anchor.getAttribute(‘role’) === ‘presentation’) {
// anchor.removeAttribute(‘role’);
// }
// });
// });
// }
// , 200);
//});
