Gaelectric has acquired the 46 MW Cloghboola Wind Farm in Co Kerry from Enercon for €60 million with funding for the deal coming through a hybrid project financing structure.
The renewable energy group said following the acquisition that its onshore portfolio of operating wind farms in Ireland is now halfway towards meeting its target of having 400 MW of generating wind assets by 2017.
Cloghboola Wind Farm commenced operations last year. It comprises 16 Enercon E-82 E4 turbines, each rated to generate 3MW of power, sufficient to meet electricity demand of almost 30,000 households.
Total debt for the project is €60 million and splits into a 19.5 year long fixed rate note and a shorter 9.5 year term loan including a credit enhancement facility to allow institutional investors to come into the financing.
Nord/LB acted as structuring bank and mandated lead arranger providing a loan of €36 million. A Hastings-advised fund, working in partnership with Nord/LB provided €26 million for the fixed rate note when the transaction was closed last week.
Gaelectric hailed the deal as a groundbreaking product development which shows that institutional debt can be successfully provided to medium-sized projects in combination with bank debt.
"The nature and stable returns characteristic of wind investments make them an ideal asset class for institutional and pension investment. We expect to see this source of funding develop further in the future," said Barry Gavin, chief operating officer, Gaelectric.
