UK Green Investment Bank acquires 25% stake in Galloper offshore wind farm

UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) has today joined Siemens Financial Services, Macquarie Capital and project developer RWE Innogy as 25% joint equity partners in the £1.5bn Galloper offshore wind farm.

The joint venture has also secured £1.37bn of debt facilities from a consortium of 12 commercial banks plus the European Investment Bank (EIB), making it the UK’s first construction-ready offshore wind project finance deal.

This is the first UK project to be backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a new initiative expected to support €315bn of infrastructure and SME investment across Europe over the next four years. EFSI was established earlier this year by the EIB and the European Commission and will enable increased lending for crucial projects by the EIB.

Construction of the 336 MW wind farm, which is expected to qualify for Renewables Obligation Certificates, will commence next month. Once complete, it is expected to generate enough renewable energy annually to meet the electricity needs of around 330,000 homes.

The development is also expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 190 kt CO₂e per annum, the equivalent of removing 85,000 cars from the road.

Galloper will be located 27 km off the Suffolk coast. Around 700 jobs will be created during the construction phase, with up to 90 jobs being created in operations and maintenance once construction is complete.

This is GIB’s eighth investment in the UK’s offshore wind sector. The GIB has helped mobilise more than £5bn in cumulative capital for offshore wind projects in the UK that, once operational, will provide nearly 3,000 MW of renewable electricity generation capacity – enough to power more than 2.3 million homes in the UK.

"This is fantastic news for the region and the whole of the UK, reflecting the fact that we are open for business and the best place in the world to invest in offshore wind. This milestone shows how the UK’s offshore wind industry is going from strength to strength."

Andrea Leadsom
Energy Minister 

"This is another significant milestone in the development of the UK offshore wind industry in a year that has already seen two major projects come online and construction commence on another. The transaction reinforces our relationship with RWE and further highlights the impressive list of companies that are investing in the sector. It is the second investment in offshore wind that GIB has made at FID in the space of six months, demonstrating the role that we continue to play in making sure that complex, but important, green infrastructure projects can proceed."

Ed Northam
Head of Investment Banking, UK Green Investment Bank

"We welcome GIB, with their experience of supporting renewables ventures and their substantial knowledge of offshore wind financing, back to another offshore partnership, their first ever equity investment being a stake in our Rhyl Flats project. Together with all of our partners, we look forward to utilising our collective experience and expertise to realise the successful construction of the Galloper wind farm."

Hans Bünting
CEO of RWE Innogy