Moray West First UK Round 4 Offshore Wind Project to Reach Financial Close

Business & Finance

April 24, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

Moray West Offshore Wind Farm, owned by Ocean Winds and minority shareholder Ignitis Group, has secured GBP 2 billion of non-recourse project finance and reached financial close, the developers announced on 21 April and said this was the first project from the UK’s Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 4 to reach this milestone.

Illustration; SeaMade offshore wind farm; Photo source: Ocean Winds

The construction work for the wind farm has already started, with this phase of the project set to create 1,000 direct jobs in the UK. With financial close in place, the project will now move to secure the remaining elements of supply chain activity in preparation for offshore installation works later this year which will be fully completed by 2025, when the 882 MW Moray West is scheduled to be fully operational.

“Reaching Financial Close demonstrates the confidence that the financial markets have in the strength of the project and its delivery partners. The project team can now focus their combined efforts and expertise to deliver the project on time. In Scotland the significant economic successes include the use of the key ports of Invergordon and Nigg, together with our long-term commitment to investing in Buckie as the operations and maintenance base”, said Adam Morrison, Country Manager for Ocean Winds in the UK.

Ocean Winds, a 50/50 partnership between EDP Renewables and ENGIE, secured the Contract for Difference for Moray West last year. The project was awarded a 15-year CfD for the delivery of 294 MW offshore wind generation at GBP 37.35/MWh (in 2012 prices).

According to its developers, the 882 MW offshore wind farm is the first in the UK to rely in majority on corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) for the commercialisation of its output. CPPAs were signed with long-term strategic partners, for more than 50 per cent of the project’s output, enabling the rapid progress of the project. The vital CPPAs were originated in partnership with ENGIE and represent the largest contracts of their kind implemented in the UK market to date, Ocean Winds said in a press release.

The Moray West project will be built some 22 kilometres off the Moray coast in the northeast of Scotland.

The offshore wind farm will comprise 60 SG 14-222 DD wind turbines which will be supplied by Siemens Gamesa and have a capacity of 14.7 MW each, utilising the company’s PowerBoost feature.