Green Giraffe Advisory (“Green Giraffe”), organised a breakfast panel event on South Africa Energy. The title of the discussion was “Exploring the impact of the liberalisation of the electricity market on the financing of renewable energy projects in South Africa“. It took place on 7th March 2024 in Cape Town International Convention Center, South Africa. This event was set up to highlight the successes and challenges facing the current market transition in the country, with a focus on some landmark deals, financing developments and market reforms that have shaped the recent trajectory of the energy sector.

Green Giraffe Advisory (“Green Giraffe”), a leading financial advisor in the global renewable energy transition, has opened an office in the city of Marseille. This second French office aims at actively supporting the local French renewable energy community and enable the acceleration of the French energy transition.

Green Giraffe Advisory (“Green Giraffe”), a global energy transition financial advisor, has advised the consortium of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (“Mitsui”), RWE Offshore Wind Japan Murakami-Tainai K.K. (“RWE”) and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (“Osaka Gas”) in their successful bid to deliver a commercial-scale offshore wind project off the coast of the cities of Murakami and Tainai, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The Japanese Government has appointed the consortium to develop, construct and operate a fixed-bottom offshore wind farm off the country’s west coast. This is in line with the country’s commitment to expanding offshore wind capacity as an integral part of its sustainable energy goal to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Green Giraffe Advisory (“Green Giraffe”), a leading financial advisor in the global renewable energy transition, has opened an office in Tokyo to help accelerate the green energy transformation in Japan, the Asia Pacific region and globally. The Green Giraffe team in Tokyo is led by Jun Kasamatsu, who brings over 20 years’ experience and track record in renewable energy and investment banking. The new Tokyo office will work closely with all existing Green Giraffe teams around the world to support domestic, inbound and outbound investment. The Tokyo team will work closely with our partner Daiwa Securities Group Inc. (TSE:8601) including its global corporate finance platform, DC Advisory, across the broad Asia-Pacific region. The full scope of Green Giraffe services, including M&A, debt advisory, capital raising, development and tender support, financial modelling, PPA structuring and strategic support, will be offered across all renewable and energy transition technologies, including solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, energy storage, grid solutions, bioenergy, and hydrogen. Jun Kasamatsu, Head of Japan, Green Giraffe says: “We are very pleased to have established our local subsidiary and to have opened the Tokyo office. This enables us to provide our full range of services in Japan supported by an expert local team that is backed by our global talent pool of industry professionals. Our goal is to bring and leverage our industry pioneering green energy knowledge and experiences to help Japan achieve its’ ambitious decarbonization goals in both the near term and long term. ” Matthew Taylor, Director of Green Giraffe Asia Pacific says: “Green Giraffe has historically been very close to Japan through its strategic partnership with Daiwa Securities Group and the many Japanese corporations that we have served.  Japan is a core market for Green Giraffe and we are committed to providing our full range of services to support Japan’s green energy transition.” With the opening of its Tokyo office, Green Giraffe’s presence now spans across ten locations; Boston (US), Cape Town (South Africa), Hamburg (Germany), London (UK), Madrid (Spain), Paris (France), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), and Utrecht (The Netherlands). Since its inception in 2010, Green Giraffe has worked on over 294 key energy transition projects in over 67 countries. Green Giraffe Japan office is located at Toranomon Hills Business Tower 15F, 1-17-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-6415, Japan.       About Green Giraffe Launched in 2010 and with offices in Boston, Cape Town, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Utrecht, Green Giraffe offers bespoke financial advice, market intelligence and development services in all renewable and energy transition technologies. In October 2019, Green Giraffe established a strategic partnership with Daiwa Securities Group. Green Giraffe partners with Daiwa’s global corporate finance platform DC Advisory, and its market-leading Infrastructure franchise, to bring full service  expertise for all clients.   For more information, please contact: Kees van Oort Email: k.vanoort@greengiraffegroup.com Phone: +31 627158614 www.green-giraffe.com

Global energy transition financial advisor Green Giraffe Advisory has advised the sponsors, Northland Power and ORLEN, on the EUR 4.4 bn non-recourse project financing consisting of EUR 3.6 bn of term loan facilities and EUR 0.8 bn of ancillary facilities for the 1.14 GW Baltic Power offshore wind project. The debt financing for Baltic Power, which was signed on Wednesday, 19 September, is being provided by 25 banks including the European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the export credit agencies EDC (Export Development Canada), EIFO (Export and Investment Fund of Denmark) and Germany’s Euler Hermes as well international and local commercial banks. The Baltic Power project is located in the Baltic Sea approximately 22 kilometers off the Polish coast and has obtained all environmental approvals and major construction permits. Once operational, which is estimated in the latter half of 2026, Baltic Power will be amongst the largest offshore wind projects globally. It is expected to provide clean energy to over 1.5 million Polish households and will play an important role in helping Poland achieve its target of up to 11 GW of offshore wind to be constructed by 2040.

Green Giraffe is delighted to announce that it acted as exclusive financial adviser to the shareholders of Flotation Energy (the Company) on the disposal of their shares in the Company On 1 November 2022, TEPCO Renewable Power, Inc. (TEPCO RP), the renewables arm of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO Holdings), Japan’s largest electricity company, entered into an exclusive agreement to acquire 100% of Flotation Energy. Flotation Energy is a world leading offshore wind developer established by current Chief Executive, Lord Nicol Stephen and Chief Technical Officer, Allan MacAskill in 2018, on the back of the successful development of Kincardine, the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm to date. The transaction is a major milestone both for Flotation Energy and TEPCO RP. The acquisition is TEPCO’s first major venture into offshore wind markets in the UK and overseas and follows an initial investment in the TetraSpar floating foundation demonstration project in Norway and Denmark in February 2021. TEPCO RP is a long-standing operator of renewable energy plants and by far the largest in Japan, where it operates over 9 GW of hydropower capacity. Flotation Energy will benefit from TEPCO RP’s experience and resources to deliver more than 12 GW of commercial scale fixed and floating offshore wind farms in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Taiwan and Japan, with plans to expand in many more key markets. Green Giraffe delivered its full suite of sell-side M&A services to the shareholders of Flotation Energy, including providing strategic and financial structuring advice, preparing the marketing materials, conducting a detailed valuation exercise, sounding a comprehensive list of relevant investors, and negotiating the transaction documents. Green Giraffe’s in-depth knowledge of the offshore wind sector and unparalleled track record in floating offshore wind was supplemented by DC Advisory’s intimate access to Japanese investors and expertise in cross-border transactions. Lord Nicol Stephen, CEO & Co-founder of Flotation Energy, said: “The Green Giraffe team were outstanding from the start to finish of this transaction. Flotation Energy could not have hoped for advisers with a better understanding of our business and the fast-growing global market in floating offshore wind. Their expertise was critical to the success of the deal.”  Flotation Energy is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has been a significant contributor to building a strong offshore wind industry in the UK and beyond. Flotation Energy has a growing project pipeline of offshore wind projects with more than 12 GW in the UK, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan and Australia, and plans to expand into many more key markets. The expertise of the Flotation Energy team lies in the project and engineering management of large infrastructure projects. Flotation Energy have developed their own projects but also recognise the benefits of collaboration and working in partnership with other developers to deliver proven, cost-effective solutions. TEPCO Renewable Power (TEPCO RP) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (“TEPCO Holdings “), the largest power company in Japan. In April 2020, TEPCO RP assumed TEPCO Holdings’ renewable energy generation business and became an independent company dedicated solely to renewable energy. For many years, TEPCO RP has used a firm business model that covers everything from the planning and construction to the operation & maintenance of hydroelectric and wind power generation facilities. The total capacity of the company’s hydroelectric, wind, and solar power facilities is approximately 9.9 GW. TEPCO RP also owns 30% of the TetraSpar floating foundation demonstration project in Norway and Denmark. Green Giraffe is a specialist advisory firm focused on the energy transition. Launched in 2010 and with offices in Boston, Cape Town, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Sydney and Utrecht, we offer bespoke financial advice, market intelligence and development services in all renewable and energy transition technologies. In October 2019, Green Giraffe entered a joint venture agreement with Daiwa Securities, whereby Daiwa took a 50% stake in the company. Green Giraffe retains its well-known brand in the energy transition market with DC Advisory (Daiwa’s M&A practice) and Green Giraffe working together to bring their complementary strengths and skills for all clients.

Sydney, 25 August 2022 – Green Giraffe opens office in Australia to support energy transition

Utrecht, 18 October – Green Giraffe announces new management team

New colours, same giraffe! We are very excited to introduce our new visual identity – with a new logo, a new website and new fluffy giraffes! We started this process last year to celebrate ten years of Green Giraffe. With offices around the world and over 120 professionals in our team, the company has come a long way over the past decade. While our colours may have changed, we are still the same animal with the same values.

An exciting new chapter for Green Giraffe has started: we have opened our office in Madrid! This new chapter is being led by Meriem Essadki formerly from our London office who is joined by Ramona Kammerer (from Hamburg) and Mathilde Sapède (from Paris) – additional growth of the team locally is already on its way. The new Madrid office will work closely with all existing Green Giraffe teams as well as with our partners Daiwa Securities and DC Advisory and is looking to actively expand our presence in Southern Europe, with a particular focus on renewable energy and the energy transition in Spain and Portugal. We look forward to catching up with you soon on all of these topics.

See the distribution of offshore wind projects in the Asia-Pacific region in La Tene’s last edition of the Asia-Pacific offshore wind map. View the map here: Contact us or La Tene Maps to get a print copy of the map.

Another exciting chapter has begun for Green Giraffe with the opening of our new office in Singapore, led by Matthew Taylor. The Singapore office will work together with our existing teams in Europe, Africa and America, along with those of our partner Daiwa, to support the financial advisory activities of Green Giraffe in the fast growing Asian renewable energy sector, and in particular look to continue our strong record in the core markets of Japan, Taiwan, Australia and South Korea. Matthew is initially joined by Marion Collette, with further growth of the team planned.

See the distribution of floating wind projects around the world in La Tene’s last edition of the floating offshore wind map. View the map here: Contact us or La Tene Maps to get a print copy of the map.

Investment will support the build-out of Windvision’s renewable assets across Belgium, France and Spain. Green Giraffe acted as sole financial advisor to the shareholders of Windvision. Location: Belgium, France, Spain BlackRock recently invested in the European activities of Windvision, an independent renewable energy supplier. The company has been operational in eight countries across two continents. The investment was made by BlackRock as part of the deployment of its Global Renewable Power III fund (“GRP III,”), and will help support Windvision’s portfolio of development, construction and operational assets that will be built-out across Belgium, France and Spain. GRP III is the third vintage of BlackRock’s global renewable power fund series. The Fund seeks to invest across the spectrum of climate infrastructure assets, with a focus on renewable power generation, and energy storage and distribution. In December 2019, BlackRock announced it had achieved a $1 billion record first close for GRPIII. The investment by Blackrock’s GRP III fund is the first in Belgium, and offers the opportunity to accelerate Windvision’s growth to make it a leading platform in its target markets across continental Europe. The pipeline consists of about 1 GW of greenfield projects in different development stages, and a 19 MW operational project in Gesves-Ohey, Belgium. Having successfully developed, financed, built and operated wind parks over several countries since 2002, Windvision has a deep knowledge of the complete value chain. It has since successfully realised over 200 MW of projects, obtained permits for over 800 MW, and grown into a 50-people team with deep expertise in the entire lifecycle of renewable energy projects. Windvision is well established in both Belgium and France, with local development teams and a strong development portfolio, all supported by the headquarters in Belgium. Windvision has aims to grow outside these two markets, and is currently developing a 300 MW project in Spain with a local partner. Simon Neerinckx, CEO of Windvision, comments: “We are very enthusiastic about our partnership with BlackRock’s GRP III. The people of BlackRock are entrepreneurial and share our vision of realising a carbon-free economy. This company culture fits our own and will allow us to realise our ambitions, whilst staying true to our core values – integrity, accountability, commitment to excellence, and commitment to people- and our identity.” Leon Vankan, former shareholder and CFO of Windvision, adds: “Combining the expertise of the Windvision team with the financial power of BlackRock’s GRP III Fund, I am certain that we will become a strong player in the renewable energy market in Europe. With these combined forces, we can remain involved in the full cycle of projects from greenfield stages until dismantling, which is positive for all stakeholders” Green Giraffe and Allen & Overy advised the shareholders of Windvision in this transaction. BlackRock was advised by KPMG and Linklaters. About Windvision Windvision has been active in renewables for nearly 20 years and has developed activities in eight countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco, Serbia, Senegal, and Tunisia. It has since successfully realised over 200 MW of wind projects in Belgium and France, obtained over 800 MW of permits and grown into a 50+-people team with deep expertise in the entire lifecycle of renewable energy projects. The former shareholders of Windvision continue with the development activities, including the local teams, in wind and solar in Serbia and Africa, and biomass in other countries, under the name of “WSB Energy” and “CME”. Further information on operational wind project in Gesves-Ohey Initiated in 2003, the “Les Géantes du Samson” wind farm was gradually commissioned in autumn 2018. This park is made up of six Siemens Gamesa wind turbines with a nominal power of 3.2 MW in the municipalities of Gesves (three wind turbines) and Ohey (three wind turbines). The height of the mast of the wind turbines is 93 meters and the diameter of the rotor is 113 meters. The total height of the wind turbines when the blade is vertical is 150 meters. With as reference an average electricity consumption per Belgian household of 3,500 kWh / year, the Gesves-Ohey wind farm produces the equivalent of the annual needs of 12,000 households. Thus 20,000 tonnes of CO2 will be avoided annually, which is equivalent to the discharge of around 10,000 cars. Downloads

Zeewolde saw the entry of Danish export credit agency EKF and Nederlandse Waterschapsbank into the transaction alongside initial financier Rabobank with the refinancing of Windpark Zeewolde which originally reached financial close on 25 June 2020. The second major milestone in the financing of the largest onshore wind farm Windpark Zeewolde in The Netherlands is a fact: the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (NWB Bank) and the Danish export credit insurer EKF have joined the Rabobank as co-financiers of the wind farm. The financing of Windpark Zeewolde was reached at the end of June by means of a loan of approximately 500 million euros from Rabobank. The NWB Bank and the Danish export credit insurer EKF have now joined the wind farm as co-financiers. General director of Windpark Zeewolde Sjoerd Sieburgh Sjoerdsma: “We are pleased that solid parties such as the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank and EKF are joining the financing. It shows the confidence that parties have in this community-driven wind farm.” “The financing of Windpark Zeewolde is a perfect example of the elaboration and implementation of our ‘sustainable water bank’ strategy: the wind farm benefits from our attractive funding rates and as such we make a substantial contribution to an affordable energy transition in the Netherlands. This transaction also shows how we give substance to our commitment to the National Climate Agreement” says Frenk van der Vliet, Chief Commercial Officer at NWB Bank. “We are very pleased to play a part in the financing of Windpark Zeewolde as it marks an important milestone; not only for Vestas as a Danish exporter but for the community behind the windfarm as a whole. The project illustrates how local commitment and international collaboration can enable the green transition” says Kirstine Damkjær, CEO at EKF. In the new structure, NWB Bank, EKF and Rabobank share the risks of the large loan. In addition to the large loan, there is also a smaller subordinated loan that remains fully in the hands of Rabobank. Pieter Plantinga, Executive Director Project Finance of Rabobank: “Windpark Zeewolde is a crucial step in achieving the goals of the Dutch Climate Agreement. And does so in such a way that the local community can benefit financially. We are pleased that these two strong parties confirm this course and strengthen the Zeewolde Windpark coalition.” Construction of the wind turbines is expected to start in the first quarter of 2021. The entire wind farm will be completed in 2022 and it will be the largest onshore wind farm in the Netherlands and the largest community wind farm in Europe. The wind farm will generate electricity for more than 250,000 local households. Windpark Zeewolde BV was advised by Norton Rose (legal advisor), Incredible and GreenGiraffe (Financial Advisors). The lenders were advised among others by Clifford Chance (legal) and MottMcDonald (technical).

Windpark Zeewolde B.V., Vestas and Rabobank have closed contracts for turbines and financing for the Windpark Zeewolde project in the Netherlands. Green Giraffe advised Windpark Zeewolde on the transaction. Windpark Zeewolde B.V., a unique collaboration of more than 200 local farmers, residents and entrepreneurs of the Netherlands, has placed an order for 83 Vestas wind energy turbines totaling 322 MW for the wind project Zeewolde. The project is in the outskirts of Zeewolde, close to the IJsselmeer, on an area that covers over 300 square kilometers. The wind park currently consists of more than 200 turbines which will be replaced by new Vestas turbines that will generate almost three times more energy with less the half the number of turbines, demonstrating the large potential in replacing older turbines with new and more efficient variants. The financing of the windfarm will be arranged by Rabobank. Rabobank will provide both the junior debt and a senior debt (approx. EUR 500m) for the construction of the project. Rabobank was keen to support the financing of this project, due to its cooperative structure comprising of a large client base of the bank in addition to supporting the energy transition. Vestas has developed a customised solution that comprises a mix of turbine variants from the 2 MW and 4 MW platforms and a 20-year Active Output Management (AOM 5000) contract, capable of maximising the annual energy production while meeting local restrictions. “We are convinced that we have signed strong partners with Vestas and Rabobank with whom we can now realize the windfarm construction quickly and efficiently,” says Sjoerd Sieburgh Sjoerdsma, Managing Director Windpark Zeewolde BV. “In October 2019 we already started with the construction of the substation and the wind farm infrastructure. This was based on the financing from our community showing the confidence and entrepreneurial spirit of our community. Now, with Vestas and Rabobank we can start the construction of the turbines”. “I’m excited that our new customer Windpark Zeewolde B.V., chose Vestas as partner for such a unique wind energy project in my home country. It marks a great step for the renewable power supply of the region, and we are looking forward to, together with our partners, repower Europe’s largest community owned wind farm that is also Netherlands’ largest onshore wind project”, says Nils de Baar, President of Vestas Northern & Central Europe. “Leveraging customised wind energy solutions with lowest levelized cost of energy, this repowering project, for which more than 90% of the community living nearby has united as shareholders for, will almost triple the annual energy production.” Rabobank was represented by Pieter Plantinga, Executive Director Project Finance during the process. He adds: “Watching tv, illuminating our houses, and nowadays working online from home: all available by the push of a button. Rabobank wants to ensure that when we press it, the consumed energy originates from renewable sources as much as possible. For that, we as a cooperative bank are willing to take financial risks if needed. Financing a wind farm of this magnitude requires months of effort from everyone involved. But it’s worth it, because this is a crucial step in achieving the goals of the Dutch Climate Agreement. Enabling the local community to profit from the revenues of park Zeewolde is a big plus and suits us as a cooperative bank.” The deliveries of the wind turbines are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021. The entire park will be completed in 2022, and it will be the largest onshore wind farm in the Netherlands and the largest community-owned windfarm in Europe. Once repowered, the Zeewolde wind project will generate electricity for more than 250.000 local households.

Following the recent amendment of the German offshore wind law and a plethora of industry players expressing severe concerns, inspiratia looks back at the country’s offshore wind history and gives a first preview of what can be expected next. Will it be zero-subsidy bids or nothing? Green Giraffe’s Simon Matthiessen was quoted in inspiratia’s analysis on the new offshore wind law. The German offshore wind market has been one of the foundations of the global offshore wind industry, and the second largest in Europe – after the UK – with a current installed capacity of 7.68GW. In the beginning of June [2020], the German Ministry of Economic Affairs upscaled its long-term target to reach 40GW by 2040 – an increase from 35GW by the same timeline – and also set an interim target to reach 20GW by 2030. With the already auctioned capacity expected to be commissioned between 2022 and 2025 standing at 3.1GW, the country will need approximately an additional 10GW to reach the interim targets. To this end, the ministry also published the long-awaited offshore wind law amendment to update the rules for the next auction set for 2021. The details sparked reactions from industry bodies and local states, both arguing that the auction design would jeopardise the long-term viability of the German offshore wind sector, and the cost-effectiveness of national electricity prices. Before we delve into the debate over the auction design, let us take stock of progress up to now.

The 370 MW Belgian offshore wind farm Norther has reached COD and simultaneously restructured its debt financing, with assistance from Green Giraffe. On 27th May 2020 the Norther offshore wind farm officially transitioned to its operational phase as it reached technical completion. The 370 MW wind farm, comprising of 44 x 8.4 MW MHI Vestas V164 turbines is located in the North Sea, approximately 23 kilometres from the Port of Zeebrugge (Belgium). The project commenced early operations in the spring of 2019 and has performed strongly since then. With construction works finalised in late March of this year the project was able to reach technical completion and to start commercial operations. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the related restrictions, the project reached this important milestone, and due to good operational performance brought its debt package in line with the current status of the project and the market conditions. The debt package is provided by a consortium consisting of the European Investment Bank, the Danish export credit agency EKF and 9 commercial lenders – ABN AMRO, Belfius, BNP Paribas, Rabobank, Nippon Life, SMBC, SMTB, Société Générale and La Banque Postale, all existing lenders to the project. Norther would like to thank the lenders for their continuous support, especially in the recent months, which demonstrates how important strong renewable energy projects will remain for relaunching the economy after the current difficult times. The original concession was granted at the end of 2009, which is when the development of the project began, and the project was awarded a tariff under the LCOE scheme in 2016. As the largest operational wind farm in Belgium, Norther represents a significant addition to the country’s offshore wind installed capacity and contribution towards the Belgian 2020 renewable energy targets, demonstrating the commitment of the investors, lenders and the federal government towards sustainability.

Sunvest and Triodos Renewables Europe Fund will jointly build two large solar parks in the municipality of Midden-Groningen, with a total capacity of 112 MWp. Sunvest was supported by Green Giraffe for the development and financing of the projects. On 15 May, the financing has been completed for Energiepark Duurkenakker. The solar park located in the Tussenklappenpolder near Muntendam, is approximately 44 ha (88 football fields) and will consist of more than 160,000 solar panels. The park will provide enough power for 20,000 households. The project is financed by Commerzbank and Goldbeck Solar will build it. Construction will take approximately 6 months and the project will supply first power to the grid in October / November this year. The project was developed by Sunvest and Solar Proactive. Triodos Renewables Europe Fund recently joined as a financial partner. Sunvest and Triodos Renewables Europe Fund will build and operate the project together. At the end of last year, Sunvest and Triodos Renewables Europe Fund also took over the Zuidbroek solar project from developer Van der Valk International. Zuidbroek Energie is 39 ha in size and will contain approximately 120,000 solar panels. The generation capacity of the park equals the electricity consumption of 15,000 households. Zuidbroek Energie is located along the A7 and next to the Van der Valk hotel Zuidbroek. Zuidbroek Energie is expected to be built in 2021/2022 as additional grid capacity must first be built in the substation at Meeden. Rene Hanssen, director Sunvest: “We are very happy with this result. The development of Energiepark Duurkenakker was particularly complex due to the continuously changing environment with the construction of wind turbines and the nitrogen factory. Another special feature is that a large wind turbine will be located in the middle of the solar park, making efficient use of the location for the generation of sustainable energy.” Vincent van Haarlem, Fund Manager Triodos Renewables Europe Fund : “In good cooperation with Sunvest, we can now enable the construction of these leading projects. With more than 280,000 solar panels, the realization of these solar parks is an important step towards the generation of more sustainable energy in the Netherlands and as such, an important contribution to catalyzing the much needed energy transition.”

See the distribution of offshore wind projects in North America in La Tene’s last edition of the North America offshore wind map. View the map here: Contact us or La Tene Maps to get a print copy of the map.

Green Giraffe is now able to formally announce the sale of RES’s 22.5% stake in Ailes Marines to Spanish utility Iberdrola, which closed on 9th March. Ailes Marines is the special purpose vehicle developing the 496 MW Saint-Brieuc French offshore wind project. The project is permitted and has been awarded a feed-in tariff in round 1 of the French offshore wind tenders in 2012. “Green Giraffe had supported RES during almost 3 years with a dedicated project team fully committed, responsive and providing high quality advice allowing RES to maximize its value “ commented the RES France Managing director. “We look forward to further supporting utilities and investors in the French offshore wind space and beyond” claims Jérôme Guillet, managing director of Green Giraffe. “Receiving full recognition of the commercial value of the project, even at an earlier development stage is at the core of what we do at Green Giraffe, to the great benefit of our clients”. This marks the involvement of Green Giraffe in yet another French offshore wind farm, a market in which we now have considerable experience. Back in 2011, we supported Eolien Maritime France (EMF), owned at the time by DONG (now Orsted) and EDF EN (now EDF RE), when they were awarded 1.5 GW of offshore wind projects in auction rounds 1 and 2. In 2015, we were involved in a buy-side mandate with a strategic investor on the sale of a minority interest in EMF. In 2019, we successfully supported Sumitomo for the acquisition of a minority stake in two French offshore wind farms (Les Eoliennes en Mer), that were divested by Engie, EDPR and Banque des Territoires.

We are pleased to announce that Green Giraffe’s floating wind expert Clément Weber will be co-chairing the WFO’s new Floating Offshore Wind committee, an international industry initiative, promoting the acceleration of commercial-scale floating offshore wind projects globally. The WFO has launched the Floating Offshore Wind Committee as a new and truly international industry initiative, promoting the acceleration of commercial-scale floating offshore wind deployments around the world. The Floating Offshore Wind Committee brings together not only international offshore wind industry leaders but also internationally recognized floating wind specialists – big and small – representing all aspects of the offshore wind value chain. Clément’s appointment signals the industry’s recognition of Green Giraffe’s long-standing commitment to a sector that is now gaining significant momentum. The committee will be co-chaired by Bruno Geschier (IDEOL). Congratulations to WFO for the launch of this initiative and to Clément and Bruno for their nomination.

Green Giraffe and Daiwa Securities today announced that they have entered into a 50:50 joint venture agreement. Green Giraffe strengthens advisory capabilities and broadens access to international investors. Green Giraffe will retain its independent management and its well-known brand in the renewable energy market and will be able to work closely with DC Advisory, Daiwa Securities’ specialist international M&A practice, and in particular with DC Advisory’s strong Infrastructure team. Green Giraffe and DC Advisory will be able to bring their complementary strengths and skills for all clients.

Green Giraffe assisted in the development and sale of an 1.5 GW offshore wind development portfolio in Poland. Green Giraffe is pleased to announce the successful closing of the sale of a portfolio of four offshore wind projects with a total generation capacity of more than 1.5 GW to RWE Renewables. The projects, which are in different development stages, are all located around the Słupsk bank in the central Polish Baltic Sea. RWE Renewables acquired the respective project companies from private owners and developers with the intention to continue the development and to build & operate the projects. As development partner Green Giraffe was responsible for the commercial development of the projects since 2017 and defined and executed the divestment strategy as exclusive financial advisors to the owners. We are proud of having been able to make a sizable contribution to the development of the offshore wind sector in Poland. We wish RWE Renewables and the project team all the best with the realisation of the projects in the Polish Baltic Sea.

This week a consortium formed by EDP Renewables and Aker Solutions entered into Korea Floating Wind Power (KFWind) alongside founding shareholder WindPower Korea to develop an initial project of 500 MW floating offshore wind in the region of Ulsan City in South Korea. This week a consortium formed by EDP Renewables and Aker Solutions entered into Korea Floating Wind Power (KFWind) alongside founding shareholder WindPower Korea to develop an initial project of 500 MW floating offshore wind in the region of Ulsan City in South Korea. Principle Power, which had a role in originating the KFWind project portfolio, will supply its WindFloat foundation technology for the project. Green Giraffe acted as financial advisor to KFWind to raise equity for funding of the development of the 500 MW floating offshore wind project. We are very excited to consolidate our presence both in Asia and in the floating wind industry, and we look forward to seeing South Korea join the offshore wind adventure.

We are very proud to have assisted Vol-V on the sale of its onshore wind and solar arm to CNR (la Compagnie Nationale du Rhône), a French IPP. We are very proud to have assisted Vol-V on the sale of its onshore wind and solar arm to CNR (la Compagnie Nationale du Rhône), a French IPP. A team of talented and highly skilled renewable energy specialists will reinforce CNR’s existing capabilities and leading position in the French market. This agreement also increases CNR’s portfolio by approximately 1.7 GW project pipeline in various stages of development. The transaction was signed on 13 September, Green Giraffe acted as exclusive financial advisor to Vol-V on this sale.

Green Giraffe advised on the EUR 700 M debt raise for Windpark Fryslan, the 383 MW nearshore wind farm, located in the IJselmeer in the Netherlands. Green Giraffe provided financial advisory services to Windpark Fryslân for the development of the 383 MW nearshore wind farm in the IJselmeer, the Netherlands. The project reached financial close on 1 October 2019. Senior debt of around EUR 700 M was provided by a lenders group of 10 banks consisting of ABN AMRO, BNG, BNP Paribas, DZ Bank, Helaba, ING, KBC, KfW IPEX, NWB and Rabobank. On financial close the province of Fryslân stepped in as a shareholder with a total investment of EUR 100 M. After completion of construction, inhabitants of the province will be given the opportunity to invest in the windfarm through bonds. Once operational in 2021, the project will be the world’s largest windfarm on a lake. This is another milestone in the lake’s interesting history: the former complex of lakes was flooded by the North Sea, then later closed off again by a 32-kilometer dam and partly drained to create an entire new province with fertile farmland. The area will now additionally supply 383 MW of electricity per year, enough for 500,000 households and 70% of the province of Friesland’s wind energy target. The wind turbines will be located just south of the long dam called Afsluitdijk. The project includes the construction of a nature island further along the Afsluitdijk. The island will be a resting and foraging area for birds and fish. During the construction of the project it may be used as work island.

Green Giraffe advised on the sale of Absaroka’s 400 MW Gordon Butte pumped storage hydro project, successfully closing the transaction with a European investment fund. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through Copenhagen Infrastructure III K/S, have invested in Absaroka Energy’s pumped storage hydro energy project in Montana, USA. The 400 MW Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project represents a carbon-neutral way to help balance the grid in the Pacific Northwest, and will be ready for construction in early 2020 – the first new pumped storage project developed in 30 years. Green Giraffe co-advised on the transaction, which reached financial close in June 2019  The Gordon Butte project is sited in Meagher County, located about three miles west of Martinsdale and less than six miles from its interconnection to the Colstrip twin 500 kV transmission lines, the backbone of the Pacific Northwest’s electric system. This interconnection location will give the facility access to markets in Montana and throughout the region. The project will have minimal environmental impact due in large part to the closed loop nature of the siting and design thus taking the facility out of an existing stream or water impoundment. Capital expenditures to build and operate the project will inject meaningful resources into the state and local economy

Green Giraffe advised EnBW on the acquisition of the French developer and operator of wind and solar farms VALECO. The authorities and the French Minister for the Economy and Finance give the green light to the full acquisition of the French developer and operator of wind and solar farms EnBW aims at turning VALECO into one of the Top 5 players in the wind and solar market in France in the medium term Karlsruhe/Montpellier. After having received the final official approvals, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG closed the acquisition of the French developer and operator of wind and solar farms VALECO on 3 June 2019. EnBW’s bid was previously accepted in a highly competitive field of bidders. The acquisition strengthens EnBW’s activities in the renewable energy sector over the long term as a key future business area for the company and at the same time secures growth opportunities in one of the most important markets for renewable energy in Europe. “The acquisition of VALECO marks a significant step forward in the rigorous expansion of EnBW in renewable energy to make them one of the main pillars of the company. In addition, the target of reaching 1,000 MW of installed capacity in the onshore wind sector by 2020 has now nearly been achieved. With VALECO, we now have one of the most experienced players on the French renewable energy market at our side. We will exploit the growth opportunities together and become one of the Top 5 players on the French wind and solar market in the medium term as strong partners”, emphasised EnBW CEO Frank Mastiaux.  Hans-Josef Zimmer, Chief Technical Officer, added: “EnBW and VALECO fit very well together. We are delighted to now have our new colleagues from France on board. And we are looking forward to future cooperation and numerous joint projects.” VALECO is based in Montpellier and is one of the Top 10 operators of renewable energy farms on the French market. The company employs around 135 people in the onshore wind and solar sectors and is active along the entire value added chain throughout France from development  and construction through to operation. With an installed capacity  of 276 megawatts of onshore wind power and 56 megawatts of solar power, as well as a project pipeline of 1,700 megawatts, VALECO reported an annual turnover of around 50 million euros last year. Alongside the company headquarters in Montpellier, VALECO also has project development offices in Amiens, Nantes and Toulouse. The previous owners of VALECO were the founding family Gay and the bank Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC). Erick Gay: “EnBW was the most suitable player for VALECO to continue its story as an independent and integrated player within the French market. The steady growth of VALECO was requiring a scale-up in terms of processes and funds to support the impressive pipeline developed over the last years. With EnBW, VALECO is now ready to follow on the entrepreneurialadventure launched by my family and turned into one of the main renewable energies French player thanks to its employees. I am particularly proud of what we have done with all our stakeholders and wish VALECO, EnBW and its employees the best for their future.” Olivier Sichel, CEO of Banque des Territoires:“As a leading public financial institution involved in the renewable energy market in France, Banque des Territoires has been supporting VALECO’s development for 10 years. VALECO’s growth was a real success and we considered it was the right moment to sell our stake along with Holding Gay. Banque des Territoires is convinced that EnBW industrial project is really relevant to further support the growth of the company and the development of its teams. Banque des Territoires, as a public investor, is proud of the work accomplished, alongside the VALECO Group’s teams over the years. This is a good example of how we are helping the economy of our regions.” The acquisition of VALECO increases the renewables portfolio of EnBW by an impressive 31 percent right from the start – and will also make an immediate contribution to the EnBW Group’s operating result. Over the last few years, EnBW has already installed more than 1,200 megawatts of generation capacity  from renewable sources. EnBW has invested around three billion euros to date in the expansion of renewable energy as part of its strategy EnBW 2020 . The company plans to invest more than five billion euros by 2025 in the further expansion of renewable energy in Germany and selected foreign markets. Since 2018, EnBW has been active itself in France and has been developing the onshore wind and solar business together with its subsidiary EnBW Energies Renouvelables SAS. EnBW is one of the largest energy companies in Germany and Europe with a workforce of more than 21,000 employees. It supplies electricity, gas and water, as well as energy solutions and energy industry services, to around 5.5 million customers. The full press release is available here.

On 2 April 2019, Greener Power Solutions signed the financing of a first batch of 330 kW mobile batteries from Alfen, the Dutch battery manufacturer.  The batteries will be used to provide power to off-grid locations such as festivals, concerts or construction sites. When not used on such temporary missions, the batteries will be connected to solar PV plants to assist in grid balancing and production optimization, and to be recharged with clean energy. The set-up allows for clean power to be delivered to off-grid locations much more cheaply than traditional diesel generator power, while at the same time avoiding the related emissions and pollution. Green Giraffe acted as financial advisor to Greener under a long term advisory and cooperation agreement and is proud to help this transition to cleaner energy in out-of-reach areas! Greener and Green Giraffe further entered into a long term advisory and cooperation agreement to structure and finance the acquisition of additional tranches of batteries, ranging in capacity from 120kW to 600kW, to Greener’s fleet in the next two years, and expect that the range of services provided by such batteries can only increase over time. Lukas Kuijken from Greener: “This is an important step in the decarbonization of the off-grid energy market and vital for realizing the energy transition. The cooperation with Green Giraffe ensures knowledge sharing, rapid growth, and sustainable innovation.”   Niels Jongste from Green Giraffe: “We are extremely pleased with this long term cooperation. Greener demonstrates that (economically) viable solutions are rapidly becoming available to integrate clean power solutions in off-grid situations.”

Just before its 9th anniversary, Green Giraffe attended the 2019 WindEurope Conference in Bilbao and prepared an updated infographic for that occasion, showing our track record and company highlights. 2018 was another busy year, and Green Giraffe’s 9th year ended with a party for our clients at the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum and the announcement of the opening of our second office outside Europe, in Boston (USA)

On 13 February 2019, the divestment of an 80% stake of the 402 MW Veja Mate offshore wind farm was successfully closed. Green Giraffe advised Highland Group Holdings, Siemens Financial Services and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on the sale.

ENGIE and EDPR sign an alliance with Sumitomo Corporation for the development of offshore wind projects in Yeu-Noirmoutier and Dieppe-Le Tréport, France. As part of the alliance, Sumitomo Corporation acquires a 29.5% equity stake in the French offshore projects (Dieppe Le Tréport and Yeu Noirmoutier) and will bring to the consortium its proven and complementary offshore wind expertise in terms of development, construction and operation. ENGIE remains the reference shareholder with a 31% stake and the leading industrial player of both parks (496 MW each), in partnership with EDPR (29.5%) and La Banque des Territoires (part of Groupe Caisse des Dépôts, 10%). Sumitomo Corporation is a leading Japanese industrial group already strongly positioned in the wind energy sector in Japan, Europe, United-States, South-Africa and China. The company is also part of some major offshore wind projects in Belgium and in the United Kingdom, totaling an installed capacity of over 1.5 GW Sumitomo Corp is also one of ENGIE’s long-time trusted partners and co-investors in desalination and geothermal projects in the Middle-East and Indonesia. Socio-industrial commitments remain confirmed. This new alliance underlines the attractiveness of the French offshore wind market and the implementation of a French Marine energy sector.

Highland has entered into an exclusive agreement to invest in L2Fiber Rotterdam. The company plans to bring optical fiber access to all 295,000 homes in Rotterdam over the next 5 years.

Green Giraffe is proud to announce the closing of the EUR 127 M refinancing of an 80 MW portfolio of renewable assets located in France and managed by Acofi Gestion! This adds a new milestone to our collaboration and work for Acofi Gestion, a leading French fund manager with EUR 2.6 bn under management. The portfolio comprises a mix of solar PV ground mounted parks, rooftops and greenhouses and onshore wind projects commissioned between 2013 and 2016. The new financing replaces the existing senior term loans at SPV level through a unique holding level financing, benefiting from the portfolio’s track record, improved market conditions and providing for simplified administrative and reporting requirements. The refinancing ultimately involved Société Générale as Mandated Lead Arranger, Lender and Hedging Bank and BPI for a total refinancing amount of ca. EUR 127 M, including the term loan and the debt service reserve facility. The process between lenders selection and financial close only lasted 29 days, once again demonstrating Green Giraffe’s high level of efficiency and ability to streamline financing processes!

Northland Deutsche Bucht GmbH announced today that the Deutsche Bucht Mono Bucket pilot demonstrator project has reached financial close.

The Veja Mate offshore wind farm (402 MW) has successfully restructured its EUR 1,277 M senior debt facilities with its existing lender group. Green Giraffe and FIH Partners, acting as exclusive financial advisors, are pleased to announce the successful and favorable closing of the restructuring of EUR 1,277 M senior facilities in place on the Veja Mate project. Veja Mate is a 402 MW offshore wind farm located in the German North Sea, approximately 95 km off the island of Borkum. It is owned by Highland Group Holdings Ltd, Siemens Financial Services and CI II managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. All 67 Siemens turbines were successfully commissioned in May 2017, take-over occurred in October 2017 and project completion was reached early February 2018. The initial transaction successfully closed in June 2015, with Green Giraffe advising Veja Mate in raising EUR 1.9 bn of funding through long term non-recourse financing senior debt, subordinated debt and equity. FIH Partners advised Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on their investment in the project.

The Blauwwind Consortium announced Financial Close on the Borssele III/IV wind farms in the Dutch North Sea. The Blauwwind Consortium today announced Financial Close on the Borssele III/IV wind farms in the Dutch North Sea. This sets in motion the construction and subsequent operation of 77 V164 9.5 megawatt (MW) turbines produced by MHI Vestas, with a total installed capacity of 731.5MW, enough to power some 825,000 households*. Total expected production is 3,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year. The main construction work is due to start in the fourth quarter of 2019, with commercial production expected in early 2021. The consortium partners are Partners Group** (45%), Shell (20%), DGE*** (15%), Eneco Group (10%) and Van Oord (10%). Shell and Eneco Group have also secured 15-year Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) from the Consortium, under which each will buy 50% of the power generated by the wind farms. Van Oord will execute the “Balance of Plant” for the project, consisting of the engineering, procurement and construction of the foundations and inter array cables. The offshore substation Borssele Beta will be designed and constructed by TenneT. During the first 15 years of operation, Blauwwind will receive a guaranteed price of €54.49/MWh under the Dutch SDE+ scheme, after which the power will be sold at prevailing rates in the wholesale power market. The project capex for the construction phase is €1.3 billion, part of which will be funded through project finance. “I am proud of the team that executed the tender and development phase of this project both professionally and passionately,” said Erik de Boer, Project Director Blauwwind responsible for the phase up to Financial Close. Roeland Borsboom has been appointed as Project Director for the phase up to realisation and will now work to continue the momentum behind Borssele III/IV keeping a focus on safety and a high quality business case. “Borssele is an attractive opportunity to invest in a high-quality offshore wind project alongside experienced partners,” said David Daum, Senior Vice President, Private Infrastructure Europe, Partners Group. “With the Dutch government committed to achieving 16% of its energy production from sustainable sources by 2023 as part of a National Renewable Energy Action Plan, we believe the project is both timely and critical in helping the country achieve that aim.” “Offshore wind has the potential to be by far the largest renewable resource in the North Sea. Borssele III/IV will allow us to demonstrate our expertise and experience of large, integrated offshore projects,” said Mark Gainsborough, Executive Vice President, New Energies at Shell. “This important investment demonstrates Shell’s commitment to invest an average of $1-2 billion a year until 2020 in new and fast-growing areas of the energy industry.”  “We are delighted to achieve this important milestone and pleased that we are one step closer to make this innovative offshore wind project come true.” said Keiichi Suzuki, CEO of Diamond Generating Europe (DGE). “This milestone helps DGE to increase its presence in the renewable energies sector, which leads to the achievement of DGE’s mission of ‘providing clean and smart energy to everyone’.” “In addition to executing the Balance of Plant contract, Van Oord is also a consortium partner, owning a 10% equity stake in this project,” said Pieter van Oord, CEO of Van Oord. “This involvement illustrates our commitment in advancing the development of sustainable energy. Building this offshore wind project is an important step forward in meeting the climate objectives of the Dutch government.” “The financial close of Borssele III/IV is an extraordinary milestone,” said Kees-Jan Rameau, Chief Strategic Growth Officer at Eneco Group. “It means that even at this record-breaking low subsidy level, our offshore wind project is attractive enough to allow adequate returns for the equity and debt financing. Eneco has contracted 50% of the green electricity output of this windfarm, which contributes significantly to Eneco’s primary goal: to provide even more locally generated green power to our customers.” “Borssele III/IV is a landmark project for offshore wind and for MHI Vestas,” said MHI Vestas CEO, Philippe Kavafyan. “Building on our strong track record in the Netherlands, we are delighted to bring the V164-9.5 MW turbine, the world’s most powerful available turbine, to Dutch waters. In doing so, MHI Vestas is proud to help the Netherlands remain at the forefront of competitive offshore wind power generation.” * Based on calculations of 700MW x 4.000 hours = 2.800.000 MWh : 3.400MWh = 823,529 households. **Partners Group is investing on behalf of its clients. ***DGE is a fully owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation which develops, constructs and operates assets generating 5GW (gross) of power in Europe and the Middle East. Mitsubishi Corporation is one of the largest Japanese investment and trading companies and pursue not only economic value but also social and environmental value on the global basis.    Link to press release on Van Oord website

Green Giraffe celebrated the 8th anniversary and prepared an updated infographic showing our track record and company highlights. 2017 was another great year with a record number of deals closed and the momentous step of opening our first office outside of Europe, in Cape Town, South Africa The infographic can be viewed here.

EnBW is continuing its strategy to capture growth in new international markets in the renewable energy sector. EnBW and Trident Winds have formed a joint venture to develop an offshore wind project in California.

Green Giraffe’s Sophie Cherrier talked to inspiratia about the opportunities and challenges facing the Taiwanese offshore wind market. Appeal of Taiwan: “With the new dynamics of the European renewable markets – increasing liquidity, competition and the drop in tariffs – a number of developers have started to look at what else might be available.” On pricing: Cherrier explains that “a number of regulatory constraints” apply around the amount that local banks and international banks with local branches can provide. “This puts pressure on the overall amount each project can raise as there is a lot of competition and a lot of local currency funding needed over a similar timeline, and is also why you need experienced sponsors and advisors who know how to raise these types of complex financings.” “As the risks are better understood and the market gets more liquid, I think pricing should follow the same trend as the European markets.” On participation of ECAs: “It makes sense for ECAs to look at new markets, especially those open to imports from European countries like Taiwan, where they can take risks commercial banks can’t, at the early stage and bring additional (risk) liquidity for projects. Generally, their participation also gives more comfort to commercial lenders and helps to increase lenders’ appetite.” Insurance companies: “In Taiwan, insurance companies can’t take construction risk due to regulatory constraints. They’re interested, but their actual appetite is still to be tested.” PPA: “The PPA template is used for all projects in Taiwan and in its current short form. It lacks a number of clauses that sponsors and international lenders would typically want to see in the contract.” New Asian offshore markets “South Korea and Japan in the medium-term are the obvious candidates and they add a future and relevant pipeline for contractors, which makes it even more worthwhile for them to pay the price of the learning curve.” The full article is available here

Jérôme Guillet participated in a panel at an inspiratia briefing hosted by Moody’s Investors Service. The experts discussed investment structures and financial engineering required to deal with increasing exposure to merchant risk.

Solarpark Zeeland BV and ib vogt are pleased to announce that the construction of Solarpark Scaldia, the largest solar energy park in the Netherlands, will start at the end of this month. Construction commences for the largest solar park in the Netherlands Solarpark Zeeland BV and ib vogt are pleased to announce that the construction of Solarpark Scaldia, the largest solar energy park in the Netherlands, will start at the end of this month. Last Friday the shares of Solarpark Scaldia were transferred by the developer Solarpark Zeeland to the new owner ib vogt, who will also build the park. Enduris will start construction of the grid connection at the end of February. At the beginning of April ib vogt will start preparing for the installation of the first solar panels. ib vogt aims to have the park ready mid-August and commission it in September. Largest solar park in the Netherlands Solarpark Scaldia will consist of about 140 thousand solar panels on 40 hectares (80 football fields) in the cable and pipeline corridor around the Sloehaven in the municipalities of Borsele and Vlissingen. This 50 megawatt solar park can supply power industrial and residential users in the region and thus contributes to increasing renewable energy in the immediate vicinity. The project requires an investment of approximately 40 million euros. Solarpark Scaldia beats the largest solar energy park in the Netherlands, SunPort Delfzijl, in terms of both area and capacity. Sunport Delfzijl has a capacity of 32 megawatts and, like Solarpark Zeeland, has been initially developed by Hans Hoven. Generation to start towards the end of 2018 Today Hans Hoven, director of Solarpark Zeeland, the company that developed the solar farm, and Carl von Braun, managing director of ib vogt, signed the documents for the transfer of the project. ib vogt wants to start generating at the end of this year. Intensive development path to an innovative project In 2015 a preliminary land agreement was signed with Zeeland Seaports and two private land owners. The building permit was obtained mid-2016, after which an SDE+ award of 15 years was granted to the project. Two thirds of the park are located on the territory of Borsele, the rest in Vlissingen. The park is also under the high-voltage lines of Tennet. Due to its location, the development of the park has been very complex. The park will be built with the solar panels in an innovative east-west direction. This ensures more efficient land use and a better daily generation profile. Municipalities Borsele and Vlissingen have always supported the initiative, as well as ZMF (Zeeland Environment Federation), in the person of Tjeu van Mierlo. Green Giraffe supported Solarpark Zeeland during the development phase by obtaining all permits and consents, negotiating the contracts and selling the project. Quote by alderman Ad Schenk, municipality of Borsele “The arrival of Solarpark Scaldia is a fantastic boost. The project is innovative and will be built in a special location in the cable and pipeline corridor of the port. It provides power for 30,000 households, has a strong appeal for the establishment of new, sustainable companies in the port and offers opportunities for involving our residents through cooperatives. “ Quote by alderman John de Jonge, municipality of Vlissingen “It is great that the city with the most hours of sunshine can also build the largest solar park. The largest offshore wind port can now largely run on solar energy. That is really sustainable. ” Quote from Peter Geertse, Zeeland Seaport “As a port, we are proud of this development and impressed by the professionalism and effectiveness of the Solarpark Zeeland developers. We wish the operator and investor ib vogt a lot of Zeeland sunshine hours. “

Green Giraffe successfully advised the Nordsee One project to improve financing conditions of its non-recourse financing initially raised back in March 2015. TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – December 21, 2017) – Northland Power Inc. (TSX: NPI) announced today that the 332 MW Nordsee One offshore wind farm achieved final completion on 20 December 2017. The project was completed on schedule and under its total budget of EUR 1.2 billion. All 54 turbines have been sending power to the grid since September 2017. Final completion marks the official end of construction and the start of the operational phase of the project, and also signifies that the terms required to satisfy the project lenders for term conversion have been achieved. Concurrent with achieving final completion, Nordsee One has also successfully and favourably restructured the project’s EUR 840 M senior debt. Green Giraffe acted as exclusive financial advisor to support the sponsors of Nordsee One, Northland Power and Innogy. Full press release from NPI’s website

For the sixth consecutive year Jérôme Guillet, Green Giraffe Managing Director, was recognized as one of the “Top 100 Power People” by specialized publication A Word About Wind, with rank #27. “Jérôme Guillet is a highly respected name in wind energy finance, with a team that has worked on notable offshore fundraisings including EUR 2.8 bn for the 600 MW Gemini and EUR 1.9 bn for the 402 MW Veja Mate. Both were commissioned this year. Under his leadership, Green Giraffe has this year worked with Elicio, Eneco and Diamond Generating Europe to raise EUR 1.2 bn for the 370 MW Norther; on a EUR 591 M debt financing for Trianel Windpark Borkum II; and helped Northland Power to reach a EUR 1.3 bn financial close for its newly-acquired 252 MW Deutsche Bucht. The firm has also worked in large onshore projects, including the 309 MW Hornsdale in Australia.” Click here for the full report (behind pay wall). Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

In an article published in Project Finance International’s EMEA Report last month, Jérôme Guillet discusses the prospects for project finance for offshore wind projects in the context of recent auctions. A PDF of the article can be downloaded on this site, while the orginal article can be found on PFI’s website here (behind a paywall). The conclusions remain upbeat “In any case, we still expect plenty of activity for lenders in offshore wind in the coming years, as there is still a large backlog of projects with solid tariff structures to be financed, including for instance Neart na Gaoithe in the UK (450 MW), most of the projects under the first two rounds of French tenders – 2,500 MW between the EDF/ Enbridge and the Engie/EDPR projects which are all expected to be project financed – and some of the projects under the UK CfD round. At least Triton Knoll and Moray Firth are likely to use project finance.” “Meanwhile, merchant risk will start to be borne by lenders to a limited but steadily increasing extent on various renewable energy transactions – refinancings of old assets, winners of onshore or solar tenders at low prices – and this creates a body of precedents that will be useful when the first “real” merchant projects need to be financed in offshore wind, if that actually happens.” “Ultimately, as the volume of investment required is large, and project finance debt is cheaper than the alternative sources of funding, investors and lenders will make it work in a way that is useful for the industry and safe for lenders.” Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Green Giraffe advised on the sale of the Wieringermeer wind farm (115 MW) from Windcollectief Wieringermeer to Vattenfall. Vattenfall/Nuon take over Windcollectief Wieringermeer wind turbine positions and decided to invest 200 million euros to build first fifty turbines Amsterdam, 29 September 2017. Vattenfall, the parent company of energy company Nuon, is taking over the 32 turbine positions from the members of the Windcollectief Wieringermeer. This means that Nuon will own a total of 82 wind turbines at the future Wieringermeer wind farm, which will become the largest wind farm on the Dutch mainland. Nuon already owns 50 turbines but with this acquisition, it will considerably increase its share in this wind farm. Work began on this wind farm 10 years ago in a joint venture between ECN, Nuon and partners, and Windcollectief Wieringermeer. ECN will retain ownership of the remaining 17 wind turbines in the wind farm. One wind turbine, the Polder turbine, will be made available for local residents. In the near future, the new wind farm Windpark Wieringermeer will have 100 wind turbines. Together, they will produce approximately 1.3 billion kWh of renewable electricity, comparable to the consumption of approximately 370,000 households. 200 million euros In addition to the acquisition of 32 wind turbine positions, Nuon has taken the investment decision for the first construction phase of Windpark Wieringermeer. This involves an investment of approximately.

Udo Schneider, head of our Hamburg office, gave his view on the current appetite for investment in offshore wind projects and expected developments in an interview with the Offshore Wind Industry magazine. How has the appetite for investment in offshore wind developed in recent years and what are you forecasting for the future? “Most offshore wind parks have performed well to date. Considering such reliable performance in combination with substantial liquidity in capital markets there is great interest in financing offshore wind assets. Certain investors cannot – yet – take construction risks and will only invest following construction completion. The competition amongst investors is more intense for projects with higher feedin tariffs. This competition also leads to a reduction in required equity returns – which helps to reduce the levelized cost of electricity.”  Read the full article here

Green Giraffe advised on the EUR 988 M debt raise for the 252 MW Deutsche Bucht offshore wind farm, located 95 km North West of the island of Borkum in the German North Sea. The Deutsche Bucht (DeBu) offshore wind farm has reached financial close. The project, located approximately 95 km North West of the island of Borkum in the North Sea, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019. It will have a capacity of 252 MW and comprises 31 MHI-Vestas V164 wind turbines. Green Giraffe was the sole financial advisor to DeBu, which was initially owned by Highland Group Holdings and is now 100% owned by Northland Power Inc.  Green Giraffe was first mandated by Highland on DeBu in 2012 and has worked on the project since, including advising on the successful bidding for additional capacity. Over the last two years Green Giraffe has been focussed on managing the commercial aspects of the project, overseeing the negotiation and signing of the main project contracts for turbine supply, balance of plant, and operations and maintenance, advising on the sale of the project to Northland Power Inc, whilst arranging in parallel a non-recourse debt financing in an amount of EUR 988 million provided by 10 commercial banks. Both the equity and debt transactions closed in August 2017 and construction has now started. Project highlights: 252 + 17 MW offshore wind farm, with completion scheduled for 2019 EUR 1.3 billion Will produce over 1 TWh of electricity per annum The original 210 MW site is complemented by an additional 42 MW won in an auction organised by BnetzA in 2015 In addition, the project is investigating the development of two additional demonstration turbines utilizing suction bucket foundations. If built they will contribute an additional 17 MW of capacity. Deal highlights: 100% sale from Highland Group Holdings to Northland Power Inc. Equity transaction closed on 17 August 2017 Project financed transaction with only commercial lenders Debt transaction closed on 18 August 2017 First financing of an MHI-Vestas turbine in Germany

Financing of offshore wind projects is all about understanding the risks, doing your homework on the numbers and finding the optimal finance structure, Jérôme Guillet from financial advisory firm Green Giraffe tells Renewables Now in an exclusive interview. Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director at Green Giraffe, was topic leader for finance at the recent Offshore Wind Energy 2017 event in London. 

Green Giraffe celebrated its 7-year anniversary in May 2017. In this short period we have grown quite fast, opened new offices and closed many deals, to the obvious satisfaction of our clients – as we regularly get re-hired for new missions!  This infographic gives a nice overview of the key achievements of 7 years of Green Giraffe.

Green Giraffe advised on the EUR 2 bn refinancing for the 600 MW Gemini offshore wind farm, which closed concurrently with full project completion. TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – April 28, 2017) – Northland Power Inc. (“Northland” or “the Company“) confirmed today that the 600 MW Gemini offshore wind farm achieved full completion on April 28, 2017. The project was completed ahead of schedule and under its total budget of EUR2.8 billion. All 150 turbines have been operating since October 2016 and, to date, have generated over EUR250 million of net pre-completion revenues. Full completion marks the official end of construction and signifies that all of the terms required to satisfy the project lenders for term conversion have been achieved. Concurrent with achieving full completion and term conversion of the loan, Gemini has also successfully and favourably restructured the project’s EUR2 billion senior debt. This restructuring will reduce loan margins, remove the original cash sweep requirements in year 5 under the previous mini-perm financing, and significantly improve distributions to Gemini’s owners. As a result of these significant milestones, the project will soon make its first cash distribution to its owners; Northland expects to receive a one-time distribution of approximately EUR31 million comprised of its share of excess net pre-completion revenues and unused construction contingency. Regular distributions from Gemini are expected to commence in December of this year and semi-annually thereafter. “Today’s announcement is a remarkable achievement and the result of exceptional collaboration between all involved,” said John Brace, CEO of Northland. “I would like to commend the Gemini project team; Siemens, who supplied, erected and commissioned the turbines; Van Oord, who designed, procured and installed all other aspects of the project; and everyone engaged with the debt restructuring for their significant efforts. The successful completion of our first offshore wind farm — ahead of schedule and under budget — combined with the loan restructuring, reflects Northland’s proficiency in delivering high-quality sustainable energy infrastructure that provides attractive shareholder returns.” The offshore wind farm is owned by Northland Power (60%), Siemens Financial Services (20%), Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV (10%) and N.V. HVC (10%). Gemini is expected to generate enough clean and renewable energy to meet the needs of 1.5 million people in the Netherlands, and reduce the country’s CO2 emissions by 1.25 million tons per year. Located 85 kilometers from the coast of Groningen, Gemini is one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. ABOUT NORTHLAND Northland is an independent power producer founded in 1987, and publicly traded since 1997. Northland develops, builds, owns and operates facilities that produce ‘clean’ (natural gas) and ‘green’ (wind, solar, and hydro) energy, providing sustainable long-term value to shareholders, stakeholders, and host communities. The Company owns or has a net economic interest in 1,394 MW of operating generating capacity and 932 MW (642 MW net to Northland) of generating capacity under construction, including a 60% equity stake in Gemini, a 600 MW offshore wind project, and an 85% equity stake in Nordsee One, a 332 MW offshore wind project, both located in the North Sea. The Company also recently announced the acquisition of a 100% equity stake in a 252 MW offshore wind project DeBu currently in advanced development in the North Sea.

Barbara Zuiderwijk and Sophie Cherrier were recognised for their leading roles in the industry in the inaugural “Top 100 Women’s Power List 2017”, published by specialised publication A Word about Wind. Ranking #42 and #58 respectively, their inclusion in the list is an acknowledgement of their influential work and illustrates how well-respected they are across the industry. Sophie Cherrier #58 “Cherrier was the youngest and most junior member at the renewable finance specialist Green Giraffe when it launched in 2010, but has become one of the most effective members of its team. Her highlights so far include her work on the 600 MW Gemini offshore windfarm, where she started on a team of five and ended up as chief negotiator with its 17-strong banking group, and now is working on the refinancing of the project. She has also worked on the 332 MW Nordsee One, 325 MW C-Power and 252 MW Deutsche Bucht” Barbara Zuiderwijk #42 “Zuiderwijk is one of the co-founders of renewable energy financial advisor Green Giraffe, and has worked on a host of major offshore projects including the 600 MW Gemini, 400 MW Veja Mate, 216 MW Northwind and 165 MW Belwind. In 2016 she advised on the EUR 900 M debt raise for the planned 370 MW Norther project in the Belgian North Sea, and is now working on the redevelopment of the 112 MW Wieringermeer project in the Netherlands. She joined Green Giraffe from Evelop Capital, and has also worked at ABN Amro.”

Richard Heap spoke to Sophie Cherrier, director at Green Giraffe, about the large offshore deals she has led including the 600 MW Gemini, working overseas, and support for women in wind. Where were you before Green Giraffe? I worked for two years in Dexia’s project finance department, which is where I met several of the other founders of Green Giraffe and was invited to participate in the creation of the company in 2010. We started with five people in Paris and five in the Netherlands, and were quickly mandated on our first project: the 325 MW C-Power offshore wind farm in Belgium. Did you work on that project? I did, and after that I got involved in the 288 MW Meerwind project in Germany. I was closely involved on the debt process up to financial close, and also actively followed the construction period, to completion. In parallel, I worked for the EDF / Dong consortium on the first French offshore wind tender. Then, right after bid submission – which our client eventually won – I started working on the 600 MW Gemini in the Netherlands. When I started working on Gemini in early 2012, the project was facing a lot of challenges, given its size and lack of liquidity in the market then. You have worked on Gemini since the beginning. Has it been interesting to see that project evolve?  Definitely. When I started working on Gemini in early 2012 the project was facing a lot of challenges, given its size and the lack of liquidity in the market then. It needed huge and unprecedented volumes of debt and equity to reach financial close. We had five people embedded in the project team for three years, working on contractor selection and subsequent commercial negotiations, as well as raising equity and structuring the debt. I have great memories of that project and I enjoyed working with sponsors, including  Northland Power, and valued their high level of trust and support. In particular, I remember us leading negotiations with lenders including around 70 people in the room, all with a common goal to make this project happen but different perspectives not to mention cultural differences. We closed the financing in 2014, with more than €2bn of senior debt raised and I’m now working on the refinancing. Is lender appetite different now? In order to be able to reach financial close, we had to work around all of the offers received from commercial lenders, as well as involve multilateral institutions, because we needed all of them. When we did Nordsee One and Veja Mate a year later, we could pick and choose arrangers amongst enough experienced banks fighting for the position. Liquidity has been strong ever since. Do you expect the move towards auctions to change the way deals are structured? Not so much on the debt side, no. The banking market has not done anything undisciplined to date in offshore wind, and I don’t expect this to change. Banks will be asked to improve some terms – leverage, pricing, contingencies, equity retention, to name a few – as part of the efforts made by all stakeholders to bring prices down, and as a result of having a longer track record, but not to overturn ten years of successful precedents. And lower tariffs may mean lower amounts of debt, and less leverage, so structures would not be much more aggressive. “The key thing we can do to encourage talented women is to show this is an exciting area with lots of opportunities.” And what impact will this have? The interesting question is the impact of lower prices on regulatory frameworks. It will be important to explain that regulations providing long-term fixed-price regimes are still necessary when offshore wind looks “market competitive” – and this is linked precisely to the need to attract cheap long-term financing for what is still  a capital-intensive industry, and cheap finance does not go with merchant risk! It’s also interesting to observe that the market is getting a lot more concentrated: we could be moving towards a de facto oligopoly with high barriers to entry as parties other than the small group of existing very experienced players give up, and prices might nudge back up as a result of margins being captured by a smaller group of players. Haven’t you also been working in the Americas? I started looking at Latin America over a year ago, as I realised Green Giraffe could bring a lot of value there. We got involved in the first renewable energy tender in Mexico, where we supported a French developer and they won support for one of their projects last year. Clearly, Green Giraffe is supporting the Women’s Power List and has been supportive of you in your career. Is it the same for all employees? I would say that Green Giraffe does not particularly promote women – other than it tries hard to hire them! – but it gives an equal chance to everyone, which is what I appreciate the most. The organisation is very flat and we have a lot of opportunity to expand our expertise, independently of our gender. Personally, I think the way to encourage people and grow the company is to show them the path and empower them, which we do with our strong culture of knowledge-sharing. There is a gender imbalance in parts of wind. Does it bother you? Men and women are not yet on equal footing – the large numerical imbalance is a fact and most high-level positions are occupied by men. Having said that, it doesn’t bother me as long as we’re treated fairly and on an equal basis. I’m actually happy to witness a new generation of women with lots of talent and I feel my role is rather to encourage them within my company or on projects. The key thing we can do beyond sharing knowledge is to show this is an exciting area with lots of opportunities and the sector is also essential for our economy and society. What’s the next step for your career? Hopefully going abroad. I spent a few months in Hong Kong with Veolia when I started working and I enjoyed it. For me, the important part is to learn new things, meet a variety of people and experience new cultures. I enjoy Asia, but the work I did in Latin America also took me to Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. It’s difficult to say where but probably not in Europe, just to make it even more challenging. Click here for the full report (behind paywall).

Neoen, John Laing and Megawatt Capital secure Financial Close for the final stage of Hornsdale Wind Farm (SA), one of the most competitive renewable energy projects in Australia. Leading French renewable energy firm, Neoen, leading international infrastructure investor, John Laing, and Neoen’s local partner Megawatt Capital, have today secured financial close for the 109 MW third and final stage of Hornsdale Wind Farm, which once fully commissioned will have a total capacity of 309 MW Hornsdale Wind Farm stage 3 is setting a new benchmark in Australia by reaching financial close with a highly competitive non-inflating long term cost of energy, successfully securing all funding while covered by one of Australia’s most competitive renewable electricity supply contracts at a fixed 20-year rate of $73/MWh All three stages of the Hornsdale wind farm have contracted their energy production through long term Feed-in-Tariffs with the ACT government, awarded through competitive wind and next-generation renewables auctions. In addition, all three stages will generate low-cost power into the South Australian electricity network which is a win-win for both ACT and South Australian electricity consumers Franck Woitiez, Managing Director of Neoen Australia, commented that: ‘‘With the Hornsdale Wind Farm Stage 1 (100 MW) now complete, and construction well under way for Stages 2 (100 MW) and 3 (109 MW), Neoen is proud to be delivering a low-cost renewable energy future to the ACT and South Australia. Being a long-term shareholder and renewable energy producer allows Neoen to be at the forefront of technologies and decreasing costs of renewables, which is good for Australia. Neoen now has 455 MW of Wind and Solar generators in construction or operation in Australia, and our target for 2020 is to develop, build and operate at least 1GW of competitive, sustainable and clean energy assets.” One of the main factors behind the low-cost project economics is the long-term focus of the parties involved. KFW IPEX-Bank and Societe Generale have firmed-up for the third time a long-term structured finance package for the Hornsdale Wind Farm, reinforcing both groups relationship with Neoen in Australia and globally. Investec provided Junior Financing to the project, in line with its past commitments on Stage 1 and Stage 2. Mark Schneider of Megawatt Capital Investments, said that: “The ACT Government are clearly at the forefront of long-term sustainable energy policy in Australia. The Government’s vision and strategy in this area have secured the lowest cost renewable energy contracts in Australia and created a long-term sustainable industry innovation hub in the national capital. Neoen will own and operate the assets over their 20-plus year life through their established Australian operations hub. Leading technology suppler Siemens have agreed to provide long term maintenance on the equipment supplied, and our debt providers have agreed to provide competitive, long term financing for the project reflecting these long-term commitments. It’s a virtuous cycle, and one that has led to an outstanding result’’ Blair Townsend, John Laing, Managing Director of Primary Investments – Asia Pacific, said: “Renewable energy remains an important growth sector for John Laing globally and we are very proud to again be partnering with Neoen to provide renewable energy to the ACT Government. The Hornsdale Wind Farm represents our fourth renewable energy investment in Australia and is another example of John Laing’s increasing commitment and standing in the Asia Pacific market. Along with its portfolio of wind and biomass renewable energy projects in the UK, Europe and the US, this demonstrates our strong expertise in the renewable energy sector across our geographies.” Today’s announcement follows the news that Hornsdale, in co-operation with AEMO and ARENA, is undertaking an Australian-first trial of Frequency Control (FCAS) services from a wind farm. Under this trial, AEMO will direct Hornsdale to provide grid stabilising services to the National Electricity Market in reaction to rapid changes in supply/demand and other system conditions that have the potential to affect the stability of the South Australian network Through the trial, the owners of Hornsdale wind farm together with ARENA and the market operator, AEMO, plan to explore untapped grid-stabilising potential within the advanced Siemens wind power technology Hornsdale Wind Farm is being built by Siemens which is providing 99 Wind Turbines (SWT 3.2 MW), alongside with South Australian firms Catcon and CPP, allowing for the local econoo benefit from a global investment of more than $870m for the 3 stages of Hornsdale Wind Farm

On 21 February 2017 Trianel Windpark Borkum II announced that ewz and Fontavis will jointly hold a stake of 24.51% in the 200 MW offshore wind farm. On 21 February 2017 Trianel Windpark Borkum II  announced that Elektrizitätswerk der Stadt Zürich (ewz), the municipal utility of Zurich, and its co-investor, the Swiss investment manager Fontavis, will jointly hold a stake of 24.51% in the 200 MW offshore wind farm. The remaining shares will be held by EWE (37.5%) and the Trianel pool partners (37.99%), a group of 18 municipal utilities. Green Giraffe supported TWB II in its search for a new investor and is delighted to congratulate the project team on having found an excellent partner for the development and operation of the offshore wind farm.

Green Giraffe is delighted to announce a partnership with respected industry publishers “A Word about Wind” for their forthcoming inaugural Women’s Power List report, which will be published on 7th March to tie in with International Women’s Day and will celebrate the achievements of our female colleagues in the industry.  Green Giraffe will also be the official sponsor for the launch event for the report in the City of London on the same day. Green Giraffe’s many successes over the last year would not have been possible without the strong women (some of which have been present since the start of the company) taking leading roles on transactions and helping manage the company. We benefit from the talents of all our employees and we strongly believe they should all be given the same opportunities and rewards. Green Giraffe has focussed from its inception on recruiting talented women and supporting them through their careers and we are thus very pleased to be associated with A Word about Wind’s initiative.

On 21 December 2016 Solarpark Zeeland announced the sale of Solarpark Scaldia to ib vogt. Green Giraffe advised and supported the development of the project. Solarpark Scaldia is a 50 MWp ground based solar park in the Vlissingen port area in the south-west of the Netherlands. The solar park lies in a 6 km long cable corridor around Sloe harbour area in Vlissingen and Borsele municipalities. Earlier this year the land contracts with Zeeland Sea Ports and private land owners were signed and the building permits were obtained. In December 2016 the project won a long term price contract under the SDE+ auction scheme. The SDE+ award guarantees the project a 15-year feed-in tariff for renewable energy production. Green Giraffe was involved as financial advisor to Solarpark Scaldia and actively supported in project development and contract negotiations, including the bid for the SDE+ tariff. After the close of the 30 MWp Sunport Delfzijl project earlier this year, Green Giraffe is again involved in the realisation of the largest solar park in The Netherlands.

Green Giraffe advised on the EUR 900 M debt raise for the 370 MW Norther offshore wind farm, located 22 km off the coast of Vlaanderen in the Belgian North Sea. Elicio, Eneco and Diamond Generating Europe (a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation) are pleased to announce that they arranged the successful financing of the 370 MW Norther offshore wind farm, with a total project investment of EUR 1.2 billion. The Norther offshore wind farm will operate 22 km off Vlaanderen and will be the largest offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea. The offshore wind farm will consist of 44 turbines with a capacity of 8.4 MW and a total installed capacity of 370 MW. Norther will produce roughly 1.4 TWh per year, generating sustainable electricity for almost 400,000 households. The project raised EUR 900 million (75% of the project budget) in non-recourse debt with a consortium of 10 financial institutions. Around half will be funded by the European Investment Bank, with Danish export credit agency EKF acting as guarantor for approximately half of that amount. The rest of the financing will come from a commercial lending club consisting of European banks ABN Amro, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, Rabobank, and Société Générale, and Japanese banks BTMU, SMBC and SMTB. The debt has a maturity of 15 years post-construction. As part of a two-contract construction strategy MHI-Vestas Offshore Wind will supply the turbines whilst offshore construction specialist Van Oord will be the balance of plant contractor. Norther is the first offshore wind project to obtain project financing for the MHI-Vestas V164-8.4 MW wind turbine, the largest commercial turbine today with its 80 m blades sweeping an area larger than the London Eye. The turbines will be connected to an offshore high-voltage substation which transform the electricity to 220 kilovolts before it is transported to the upgraded Stevin substation in Zeebrugge via a sub-sea cable. The electricity produced will be marketed by ENGIE Electrabel and Eneco. Norther will manage construction and operation of the wind farm from an operations base in the port of Ostend. Norther was advised by Loyens & Loeff (legal advisor), Green Giraffe (financial advisor), Chatham (hedging) and Aon (insurance). The lenders were advised by Benatar & Co (insurance), Mazars (model audit), Mott MacDonald (technical), Jones Day (legal) and KPMG (tax & accounting). Additionally, EKF was advised by Kromann Reumert (legal) and EIB was advised by Clifford Chance (legal). About Elicio Nethys SA is a shareholder via its daughter company Elicio NV, a Belgian renewable energy producer operating internationally. Nethys SA is owned by local municipalities of the Liege province (via Publifin, formerly named Tecteo Group) and is active in energy, telecommunication and the industrial development sector. Beyond Norther, the Nethys group is involved as shareholder (via Otary) in the Rentel, Seastar and Mermaid offshore wind projects in Belgium, and Elicio was actively involved in the development of Northwind. About Eneco Eneco is a major international producer and supplier of electricity, natural gas and heat, involved in developing and operating sustainable energy projects (including two operational offshore wind farms in the Netherlands – Princess Amalia and Luchterduinen). Furthermore, Eneco will market 50% of the electricity output of the windfarm via a separate power purchase agreement. About Diamond Generating Europe Diamond Generating Europe is wholly owned by Japan’s largest trading company, Mitsubishi Corporation. Mitsubishi Corporation is one of the world’s most diverse enterprises, with over 700 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. Diamond Generating Europe functions as a power producing business for MC in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and recently acquired a 50% stake in the Luchterduinen offshore wind farm as part of a long term cooperation agreement with Eneco. 

On 15 November 2016, Masen (the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy), supported by Green Giraffe and Attijari Finance Corp as joint financial advisors, signed a 20-year PPA with ACWA Power for the 170 MW Noor PV 1 program.

Valeco, supported by Green Giraffe, has signed the financing of a 180 MW wind and solar PV portfolio in France. The total long term debt financing is approximately EUR 260 M.

Jérôme Guillet, Green Giraffe Managing Director, was recognised for the fifth year running as one of the “Top 100 Power People” by specialized publication A Word About Wind, with rank #25 For the fifth consecutive year Jérôme Guillet, Green Giraffe Managing Director, was recognized as one of the “Top 100 Power People” by specialized publication A Word About Wind, with rank #25. “Guillet is a hugely respected figure in wind energy finance, and his team has worked on a series of huge offshore fundraisings including €2.8bn for the 600MW Gemini, due to be commissioned in spring 2017, and €1.9bn for the 400 MW Veja Mate. In the last year, Green Giraffe has advised John Laing on the acquisition of 30% in the 111MW Nordergründe in the German North Sea; worked with WindMW on a €978m bond refinancing; and advised Velocita on a €200m project financing in France. It has also entered the Australian market.” Click here for the full report (behind pay wall) Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Rentel has reached financial close for the construction of a new 309 MW offshore wind farm off the Belgian coast. The Rentel project – located 40 kilometers north of Ostend – will be the fifth offshore wind project in the Belgian North Sea.

John Laing Group plc, the international originator, active investor and manager of infrastructure projects, today announces that it has acquired a 30% stake in a 110.7MW offshore wind farm project in the German North Sea, just north of the city of Wilhelmshaven. Green Giraffe was mandated by John Laing to advise in the acquisition of a 30% stake in the 110.7 MW nearshore project Nordergründe in the German North Sea

We helped Neoen close the financing today for the 100 MW second stage of the Hornsdale wind farm in Australia. Neoen Australia has secured a long-term debt financing package for the 32-turbine, 100 MW second stage of the Hornsdale wind farm which altogether with the first and third stages will comprise 105 Siemens turbines. The multi-staged project, majority owned and managed by Neoen, is located near the South Australian town of Jamestown, 200km north of Adelaide. John Laing holds a minority interest in the project. Green Giraffe acted as financial advisor to the project in the run up to the closing. Key features: Neoen has developed the project with local partner Megawatt and majority owns it alongside John Laing Siemens is building the wind farm, supplying the 32 turbines and providing long-term operations and maintenance of the project Hornsdale wind farm stage 2 (like phase 1) is financed by international banks KFW IPEX-Bank GmbH and Societe Generale, with Investec providing a mezzanine loan This phase is underpinned by a 20-year power purchase agreement with the ACT grid operator at 77 AUD/MWh

Mark Mathijssen, legal counsel at Green Giraffe, was recognized as one of the “top 100 legal power people in wind” by specialized publication A Word About Wind, with rank #33 “Mark Mathijssen is one of the founding partners of boutique renewables financial adviser Green Giraffe, which launched in 2010. With 18 years’ experience in corporate, financial and project contracting matters, of which a decade has been focused on renewables, he has played a vital role in some of Green Giraffe’s biggest deals. He has advised on major offshore projects including the 600 MW Gemini, 402 MW Veja Mate and 165 MW Belwind I, with a focus on negotiations with contractors, grid operators and turbine suppliers.”

Green Giraffe contributed last year to the study conducted by the University of Delaware’s SIOW for the NYSERDA setting out key strategic steps New York State can take to reduce costs of offshore wind power over the next decade. Green Giraffe contributed last year to the study conducted by the University of Delaware’s Special Initiative on Offshore Wind (SIOW) for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) setting out key strategic steps New York State can take to reduce costs of offshore wind power over the next decade. This week, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced it will participate in the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) auction for a commercial offshore wind energy lease off the coast of Long Island.   Stephanie McClellan, director of SIOW, acknowledged the added value of Green Giraffe in the process which lead to this major milestone in offshore wind in the US. “Green Giraffe was instrumental in helping the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind illustrate to New York State early on the benefits of the approach they are now undertaking. With their seasoned experience and expert knowledge we were together able to quantify the benefits and provide New York policymakers with a real roadmap to cost-effective offshore wind. We are so incredibly grateful for their collaboration on that project. This is a great step for US offshore wind.”

Green Giraffe was mandated in October 2014 by a consortium of Solvay, Marubeni and Caisse des Dépôts in the non-recourse financing of a portfolio of energy efficiency projects located on Solvay industrial sites which closed in March 2016. Solvay, Caisse des Dépôts and Marubeni invest in two new energy efficiency projects and create a holding to reinforce their partnership Solvay, Caisse des Dépôts, and Marubeni Europe plc (“Marubeni”), have expanded their energy efficiency partnership with two new projects to finance and operate cogeneration plants at Solvay’s facilities in Tavaux (France) and in Spinetta (Italy). These projects join an established portfolio of similar projects to reduce energy consumption and the environmental impact of Solvay’s sites while enhancing the plants’ competitiveness. The three partners have created a holding company EEco to speed up the development of these innovative energy efficiency projects and facilitate their management. Backed by a pioneering finance scheme, EEco Holding offers both the technological expertise and capacity to improve the energy and environmental management at limited investments for the customers. EEco Holding groups four projects – Solvay’s plants in Tavaux and Spinetta projects plus projects announced earlier at Solvay’s plants in La Rochelle and Lyon (France) and which total a production capacity of 230 MW of electrical power and over 900 t/h of steam. EEco Holding has settled a non-recourse project finance provided by MUFG’s banking arm, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Group. This innovative structure seeks to continue financing large-scale projects to assist industrial sites in reducing their energy consumption. Projects will be implemented on Solvay’s and third party plants. Solvay Energy Services, Caisse des Dépôts and Marubeni reaffirm their commitment to fight climate change and to become key players in the energy transition. Beyond co-financing the project, Solvay and Marubeni will bring their know-how in energy asset operations and maintenance. As for Caisse des Dépôts, this initiative shows that industrial energy efficiency projects can provide both a satisfying risk/return and significant environmental benefits.

European renewable energy developer and operator Velocita announced the EUR 200 M project financing of the Vaite-Bussiere, Rougemont-Baume 1 and Rougemont-Baume 2 wind farms. Financial close reached for French 120 MW wind farms Velocita Energy Developments secures non-recourse financing for three Wind Farms in the Doubs region. The European renewable energy developer and operator, Velocita Energy Developments (“Velocita”) announced today the €200m project financing of the Vaite-Bussiere (“VAI”), Rougemont-Baume 1 (“ROU1”) and Rougemont-Baume 2 (“ROU2”) wind farms (together the “ROUVAI” cluster) in the Doubs region, France. The financing arrangement with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (“BTMU”) and ING Bank N.V. (“ING”) is Velocita’s second project in France . The deal follows on from the successful financing of the 31 MW Monts du Lomont wind farm in December 2014. The project is a unique clustered development leading to three self-standing onshore wind farms to be built in two phases. Construction of the first phase – consisting of 35 turbines totalling 100 MW of capacity on VAI, ROU1 and ROU2 – will begin in January 2016 and the wind farms are expected to start operations end June 2017. Phase two will consist of another 8 turbines totaling 20 MW of capacity to be built on ROU2, bringing total installed capacity on ROUVAI to 120 MW by end June 2018. ROUVAI has been developed in partnership with Opale Energies Naturelles and will be built and operated by Velocita. Artelia has been contracted by Velocita to undertake civil and electrical infrastructure works. General Electric will supply the 43 GE-220 HH110 2.78 MW wind turbines as well as providing operations and maintenance services under a long term contract. Electricity will be sold to EDF under a 15 year feed-in tariff. The project cluster is about ten times the size of an average French onshore wind farm, and will make a valuable contribution to France’s ambitious renewable energy targets. Green Giraffe, Allen & Overy, CGR Legal, Natural Power and JCRA acted for Velocita, Mott MacDonald, Linklaters, Marsh, and BDO acted for BTMU and ING.

Jérôme Guillet, Green Giraffe Managing Director, was for the fourth year running recognized as one of the “top 100 power people” by specialized publication A Word About Wind, with rank #26. “Guillet is one of the most respected individuals working in wind energy finance, and his team followed last year’s €2.8bn Gemini fundraising with another huge deal this year. In June, Green Giraffe concluded the €1.9bn financing of the 400MW Veja Mate, on behalf of Lord Irvine Laidlaw’s Highland Group Holdings. The deal with Siemens Financial Services, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and a consortium of banks was even more impressive given that it had to be completed in nine months for a client with no track record in building offshore wind farms.” Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.  

Leading French renewable energy producer Neoen, and M&G Investments and the Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund,have agreed on a mezzanine debt financing for a portfolio of primarily French renewable energy projects with a total peak capacity of 100 MW. French renewable energy producer Neoen secures an unprecedented EUR 40 M junior green bond with an 18-year tenor. Leading French renewable energy producer Neoen, and M&G Investments, a leading international asset manager, and the Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund, a Guernsey domiciled, closed-ended fund listed on the London Stock Exchange,  have agreed on a mezzanine debt financing for a portfolio of primarily French renewable energy projects with a total peak capacity of 100 MW. The EUR 40 M financing  closed on 30 October 2015 and was  validated as a “Green Bond” following ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) due diligence  by Vigeo, a recognised sustainability expert, thus making Neoen one of the first Independent Power Producers to receive such independent Green recognition for a debt issuance. This bond has an attractive tenor of 18 years, reducing refinancing risk, which was made possible thanks to the steady and predictable cash flows of high quality renewable energy assets. This secured bond is provided at a holding company level with limited recourse to Neoen SAS and is subordinated to senior debt in place at the individual project level. This financing allows Neoen to benefit from a competitive overall cost of capital for its projects, while maintaining its ownership, and provides M&G and Sequoia with their targeted risk-adjusted returns. Neoen was advised by Green Giraffe (financial) and De Pardieu (legal). M&G and Sequoia were advised by DNV-GL (technical) and Watson Farley Williams (legal). Xavier Barbaro CEO of Neoen, said: “Neoen’s first green bond is also a first for an Independent Power Producer. This achievement highlights the pioneering spirit of Neoen, the remarkable performance of our best-in-class assets, and our ability to partner with leading investors such as Sequoia and M&G. Thanks to this financing, Neoen will further expand its asset base, proving that full ownership of assets is wholly compatible with high growth”.

Green Giraffe targets Latin American power via new hire. Renewable energy finance specialist Green Giraffe has begun to look for advisory mandates in Latin America, new hire Andrew Eckhardt told InfraLatinAmerica. Eckhardt, will lead the firm’s Latin America expansion. Prior to joining Green Giraffe this month,he was vice president of power generation and transmission business for KfW-IPEX Bank in New York. “The top three countries for renewables are Chile, Mexico and Brazil, but we also see space for our tailormade services in the smaller markets of the region” he said in a phone interview. “We are planning to offer our full product range, i.e. advising on equity and debt deals, as well as on strategic questions. We will also offer financial modelling services”. Eckhardt will be initially based in Boston, with other team members in Paris and London also working on Latin America. A final decision has not been taken as to the location of a permanent office. At KfW-IPEX, his prime responsibility was to develop the bank’s American power generation and transmission business. He had previously spent several years in the bank’s renewable energy team in Frankfurt and lead the financing of more than 2 GW across onshore and offshore wind, as well as solar and biogas projects. While a top player in Europe, regularly to be found at the top of the InfraDeals league tables, Green Giraffe is relatively unknown in Latin America. “Green Giraffe is planning to leverage existing relationships it has on the developer and investor side with big international funds and developers and add value with its unique sector and process know-how” Eckhardt said.  “We will look to add value by being sector focused and entering deals at an early stage,” he added. “We will leverage our extensive experience of being involved in big projects from an early stage. We will also continue to bring our strong knowledge of export credit agencies to the table to grow the franchise in Latin America,” he added. The firm is taking a committed but cautious approach to the region. “We haven’t been set a target for the number of projects we need, but we want to build up the number while avoiding anything we can’t deliver on,” Eckhardt said. Click here to view the full article on InfraLatinAmerica behind paywall.

The sale by RP Global to Talanx of the 49.5 MW Walkyrie portfolio, comprising 3 onshore wind projects to be built in northern France, closed on 9 September 2015. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time.

IJ Global’s most recent financial advisory league tables (for the first half of 2015) show Green Giraffe keeping its top spot in the renewable energy sector, underlining the strength in our core business. The all-sector table for Europe further shows that we are becoming one of the major financial advisory houses altogether. Green Giraffe was ranked #1 for renewables top financial advisors (transaction value) Green Giraffe was ranked #4 for Europe top financial advisors (transaction value)

The financing of over EUR 1,275 M of the 400 MW Veja Mate project, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed on 29 June 2015. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time.

Green Giraffe celebrated its 5-year anniversary in May 2015. In this short period we have grown quite fast, opened new offices and closed many deals, to the obvious satisfaction of our clients – as we regularly get re-hired for new missions! This infographic gives a nice overview of the key achievements of 5 years of Green Giraffe.

Q1 2015 was quite an active period for offshore wind with the successful closing of two greenfield offshore wind projects, the 30 MW Block Island wind farm in the US, and the 332 MW Nordsee One project in Germany, as well as the refinancing of the 288 MW Baltic 2 in Germany. This article focuses on the first two transactions, and while they are ostensibly very different in terms of regulatory context, technology, size and sponsors, both were structured in a manner that provides a good snapshot of current market conditions and trends. By Sophie Cherrier, a director of Green Giraffe in Paris who led the firm’s team advising on the Nordsee One project, and Jérôme Guillet, a managing director of Green Giraffe who was directly involved in the Deepwater project.  Click here for the full article (PFI website – subscription only)

Developers of offshore wind projects in Europe will find it easier to attract financing for their large-scale projects as a result of the increasing appetite of commercial banks to invest in offshore wind projects in Europe, Jerome Guillet, told Clean Energy Pipeline. According to Clean Energy Pipeline’s figures, more than 40 commercial banks have invested in the European offshore wind sector since 2006, a trend which Guillet envisages will increase as commercial banks become more and more comfortable lending to large-scale developments in the sector.  Green Giraffe acted as the financial adviser for Northland Power Inc. and RWE Innogy GmbH, the borrowers on the ambitious Eur1.2 billion, 332 MW Nordsee One offshore wind farm project, which hit financial close on March 19, 2015. Guillet said: “Nordsee One reached financial close within the timetable they had targeted, which was an important goal of the sponsors, and it was the first large-scale deal with full construction risk [to be completed] without any multilaterals.”  The landmark deal saw approximately 70% of the project costs provided through a Eur840 million non-recourse construction and term loan from a group of 10 international commercial lenders: ABN AMRO, Bank of Montreal, Commerzbank, Export Development Canada, Helaba, KfW IPEX, National Bank of Canada, Natixis, Rabobank and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. The increasing involvement of commercial lenders on offshore wind deals will not be at the expense of multilateral banks, according to Guillet. In 2014, three European offshore wind projects secured $4.1 billion (Eur3.7 billion) of debt project finance, more than double the $1.6 billion invested in 2013, with multilateral backing making up a large proportion of the risk volume.  Guillet said: “The multilateral banks are able to put up large individual risk tickets, which is their main advantage, especially for big transactions, but there will be more and more deals without them.” Guillet went on to say that he expects banks will offer more favourable interest rates for offshore wind project debt finance. According to Clean Energy Pipeline’s figures, debt finance for offshore wind projects is currently priced at between 250 and 350 bps above LIBOR.  Moving forward, Guillet said: “Eventually we should reach below 200 basis points over Euribor.” The debt-to-equity ratio has remained relatively consistent for projects across the offshore wind sector. “It has been stable at 70:30, but it will probably at some point improve from the borrowers’ perspective to 75:25,” Guillet predicted.  Green Giraffe is currently acting as the financial adviser for the 400 MW Veja Mate project, a 67-turbine offshore project located in Germany’s North Sea, which is owned by Laidlaw Capital Group. Although no banks have yet been mandated to provide financing for the deal, “the financial close of Veja Mate is being targeted for June”, Guillet said. Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

The speed at which the 332 MW Nordsee 1 offshore wind farm signed off its financing – and the absence of any multilaterlal involvement on the deal – is further evidence of the increased maturity of the European offshore wind market. Inspiratia published on 27 March 2015 an article about the Nordsee1 financing for which Green Giraffe acted as financial advisor. The speed at which the 332MW Nordsee 1 offshore wind farm this month [March 2015] signed off its financing – and the absence of any multilaterlal involvement on the deal – is further evidence of the increased maturity of the European offshore wind market  By 18 March, just six months after it first approached banks, the €1.2 billion (£883.1m $1.3bn) Nordsee 1 offshore wind farm had not only signed financing agreements but also reached full financial close – the first major offshore financing in Germany for over two years. For Northland Power, the Canadian IPP that owns 85% of the project, the swift transaction marks its second success in European offshore wind in the space of 10 months – after it took the Gemini project to financial close last May. No fewer than five lenders from Nordsee 1’s 10-bank club were fresh out of Gemini, while four of the others have experience in German offshore wind financings. In fact, of the entire bank club only NBC is new to the sector. Unsurprisingly, given the current appetite for deals, the €840 million (£618.2m $919.6m) debt raise was massively oversubscribed. inspiratia understands that twice as many banks made offers, though only the final 10 were invited to participate. This appetite was high enough that Northland and utility RWE Innogy were able to fund the project solely with commercial banks – with EDC, an export credit agency, acting as an MLA on identical terms but without the interest rate swaps. Several sources note how multilaterals often slow deals down because of the greater due diligence required, and that their absence was a key factor – along with the bank club’s experience in offshore wind – in getting Nordsee 1 to financial close in just half a year. So too was the involvement of Northland itself. Jérôme Guillet, managing director of the project’s financial adviser Green Giraffe, says, “Northland is being seen more favourably. It was the new kid on the block on Gemini, but now it is the kid that has done it – which is very important for banks.” Utility trend Those involved in Nordsee 1 – which will be built at a site around 50km north of Juist Island in the German North Sea – see its shareholder structure as a blueprint for future deals in European offshore wind. RWE Innogy had taken the project through development and sold off a majority stake to Northland last September, leaving it with a 15% equity interest. This decision is part of a wider strategy that will see the utility share the capital required for offshore projects in an effort to cut costs – partly in response to German energy reforms that have squeezed utilities’ margins and put pressure on their business models. “RWE Innogy had done a lot of the development legwork already but wanted to get Nordsee 1 off its balance sheet because it’s a pretty big project,” says Adam Beaumont, director of finance at Northland. “We’re seeing some of our peers come into this space and do the same thing as well. It’s about taking the fiscal responsibility off the utilities and onto the private power producers.” Contingency funding Cost overruns have affected the German offshore wind market in recent years, most notably on the Bard 1 project that is thought to have cost double its initial valuation of €1.5 billion (£1.1bn $1.6bn) when it was grid connected two years behind schedule in 2013. This caused problems around which parties – debt or equity – had to stump up the contingency funding. Previously, it has been commonplace to set aside roughly 12-15% on top of the original capex to cover delays and other cost overruns. This is now seen as a futile approach, with most saying contingency funding should be determined on a project-by-project basis. Nordsee 1’s capex includes €35 million (£25.8m $38.3m) of base contingency, with an additional budget of €90 million (£66.2m $98.5m) to be committed by the debt and equity providers on a pro-rata basis if this limit is exceeded. Also included in the project’s capex is around €70 million (£51.5m $76.6m) in pre-completion revenues. In the case of a wind farm, by the time the final turbine is commissioned, the first turbine is already generating electricity and making money. Sources who worked on the deal say it is becoming acceptable in the market to consider these revenues as quasi-equity, which Nordsee 1 has done. EPCI contracting A noteworthy aspect of Nordsee 1 in terms of project finance transactions is its use of so-called EPCI contracts – a variant of multi-contracting that, for example, will see one company not only design, manufacture and deliver the turbines, but also transport and install them. The idea is to take away the risk from the project and put it on the counterparty, which also means the project requires less contingency funding. Three of the five engineering contracts are designed in this way: Senvion – turbines Bladt Industries – offshore substation Siem – inter-array cables Ranjan Moulik, global head of power and renewables at Natixis, one of the banks on the deal, says, “It’s about dividing the workflow into independent silos that have very few interfaces. It’s a much more efficient contracting structure than traditional multi-contracting, which have caused material delays and cost overruns on certain projects in the past.” It’s a much more efficient contracting structure than traditional multi-contracting, which have caused material delays and cost overruns on certain projects in the past  While EPCI-type contracts have been used in Europe before, their presence in such a large project is said to be relatively unique. Northland and RWE have condensed potentially dozens of contracts into just five, with Ambau and GeoSea also contracted to produce and install the monopile foundations respectively. Meanwhile, Germany’s North Sea transmission system operator TenneT will connect the project to its DolWin 2 offshore converter station, which is scheduled to be installed in mid-2015. Financing details The project has a total capex of €1.2 billion (£883.1m $1.3bn), with around €840 million (£618.2m $919.6m) in non-recourse debt being provided for a gearing of 70:30 debt-to-equity. Green Giraffe, which had played a key role as financial adviser on Gemini, acted as financial adviser to the sponsors and once again ensured that the financing was concluded swiftly. The debt was made up of a single-tranche 12-year construction and term loan, provided by the following 10-bank club: ABN AMRO Bank of Montreal BTMU Commerzbank EDC Helaba KfW-Ipex NBC Natixis Rabobank The debt terms on Nordsee 1 show an improvement since Gemini, reflecting general market conditions and the strong appetite for the deal. Pricing is set at 275bp + Euribor during construction, before falling to 250bp upon operation and rising back to 275bp by the end of the 12-year tenor. As with Gemini, it is understood that the bank club plans to syndicate up to €10 million (£7.4m $10.9m) each to one or two additional banks – leaving them final tickets worth around €75 million (£55.2m $82.1m). Under new German energy laws, the project will receive support through a contract-for-difference feed-in tariff for a 20-year period, structured as follows: €194/MWh for the first eight years €154/MWh for an additional 1.54 years €39/MWh until year 20 As such, the banks on the deal will see just short of 2.5 years of uncontracted revenues. Meanwhile at P90 – the amount of electricity that the wind farm is 90% likely to produce over an average year – the DSCR is 1.3. As well as financial adviser Green Giraffe, the sponsors were also advised by Linklaters (legal) and Chatham (hedging), while Clifford Chance (legal), Sgurr (technical), Benatar (insurance), Corality (model audit) and EY (tax) acted for the banks. Conclusion Banks still want the due diligence to be watertight… but if you meet that threshold, the liquidity is huge – which is the difference from before  Nordsee 1 follows Nordergründe – a more modest deal at 111MW, with debt provided by the EIB and KfW-Ipex – in reaching financial close in Germany this year, and precedes the likes of Veja Mate and Baltic 2 – both of which are on track to close in the coming months. All of this suggests that if 2014 was the year of the Dutch, 2015 is without a doubt Germany’s. The transaction had so few complications that one adviser went as far as describing it as “the smoothest process we have ever had”. While the strong counterparties were important in achieving this, the deciding factor in its success was the appetite from a banking market that is hungry for deals. Jérôme Guillet of Green Giraffe says, “There is still a cliff effect in offshore wind. It’s still quite hard to get a deal financed. The lending standards have not slipped; banks still want the due diligence to be watertight and for the structure to follow a certain number of rules. But if you meet that threshold, the liquidity is huge – which is the difference from before. Before it was adequate, and now it is plentiful. Projects still have to meet that high standard of quality, and if they do, they become eminently financeable.” Click here for the full article

The financing of more than EUR 900 M of the 332 MW Nordsee One project, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed on 19 March 2015. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time.

Green Giraffe contributed to the study conducted by the University of Delaware’s for the NYSERDA setting out key strategic steps New York State can take to reduce costs of offshore wind power over the next decade. Green Giraffe contributed to the study conducted by the University of Delaware’s Special Initiative on Offshore Wind (SIOW) for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) setting out key strategic steps New York State can take to reduce costs of offshore wind power over the next decade. The study finds that ongoing technology and industry advances combined with actions New York could take, independently or with other states, could lower costs for offshore wind power as much as 50% and bring the clean-energy source closer to realizing its potential for “delivering utility-scale renewable electric generation” to New York City and nearby areas such as Long Island.

The USD 290 M financing of the 30 MW Block Island offshore wind farm, developed by Deepwater Wind, closed on 27 February 2015. Green Giraffe advised the developer, notably on commercial arrangements. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, provided by the project company at the time.Block Island Wind Farm Now Fully Financed First U.S. Offshore Wind Project to Reach Financial Close Milestone Deepwater Wind Block Island, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deepwater Wind, has fully financed the Block Island Wind Farm, reaching financial close on more than $290 million in project financing provided by Mandated Lead Arrangers Societe Generale of Paris, France, and KeyBank National Association of Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to its role as Mandated Lead Arranger, Societe Generale also acts as Financial Advisor for Debt Raise, Bookrunner and Administrative Agent. With these major agreements, Deepwater Wind has now secured all debt and equity funding needed to construct and operate its 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm – already under construction. Deepwater Wind is the only United States offshore wind company to reach this critical milestone. The Block Island Wind Farm will be America’s first offshore wind farm. “We’re ecstatic to reach financial close and thrilled to be partners with Societe Generale and KeyBank for this groundbreaking clean energy project,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. “We’re full speed ahead and moving ever closer to ‘steel in the water.’” “We at Societe Generale are proud to be a partner of Deepwater Wind, the U.S. leader in offshore wind power,” said Alexander Krolick, Director of Energy Project Finance in the Americas at Societe Generale. “Deepwater has assembled a world class management team and experienced contractors to develop this landmark project. As the first offshore wind farm to be developed in the U.S., the Block Island Wind Farm represents a milestone that expands SG’s offshore wind sector footprint outside of Europe and further strengthens our extensive global track record of advising clients and arranging debt for offshore wind projects.” “Deepwater has long been at the forefront of offshore wind development,” said Andrew Redinger, managing director and head of KeyBanc Capital Markets Utilities, Power and Renewables Group. “We are pleased to provide financing for the first offshore wind project to be fully financed in the U.S., and look forward to working with Deepwater on future, transformative projects.” The financing from Societe Generale and KeyBank is in addition to more than $70 million in equity funding already provided by Deepwater Wind’s existing owners, principally an entity of the D.E. Shaw Group. Construction is well underway on the wind farm. Alstom will supply five Haliade 150 6 MW offshore wind turbines for the project and has already completed the fabrication in Denmark of all 15 blades for the project. Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc., began fabrication work in January 2015 at its facilities in Houma, Louisiana, on the wind farm’s five steel jacket foundations. That work is scheduled to be complete in several months. Rhode Island-based Specialty Diving Services is expected to begin additional fabrication work on components of the foundation substructures at Quonset, Rhode Island in the coming weeks. “Steel in the water” is planned for this summer, when all five foundations are scheduled for installation off the Block Island coast. The project will be in-service in the fourth quarter of 2016. “We are on the cusp of bringing offshore wind from theory to reality in the U.S. We’re incredibly proud of our position at the forefront of the U.S. offshore wind industry,” Grybowski said. “We’ve brought together some of the best American and European expertise to build an outstanding project and finance team. We’re poised to launch a new American clean-tech industry, and it all starts here with our work on the Block Island Wind Farm.” Latham & Watkins, LLP acted as borrower’s counsel; Hinckley Allen, LLP, of Providence, R.I., acted as local counsel; and Van Ness Feldman, LLP acted as regulatory counsel to Deepwater Wind Block Island. Chadbourne & Parke, LLP acted as lenders’ counsel and Locke Lord Edwards, LLP, of Providence, R.I., acted as lenders’ local counsel. Green Giraffe acted as financial advisor for commercial arrangements to Deepwater Wind Block Island, and Mott MacDonald acted as Independent Engineer. About Deepwater Wind Deepwater Wind is a leading U.S. offshore wind and transmission developer. The Company is led by a veteran team with extensive experience in developing renewable-energy projects. The Company is actively planning offshore wind projects to serve multiple East Coast markets located 15 or more miles offshore, including New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey as well as deep waters projects on the US West Coast. The Company’s Block Island Wind Farm is on schedule to become America’s first offshore wind farm. 

Henri Gouzerh and Nicolas Gourvitch proposed a method to quantify the merit order effect of solar PV in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland for the period 2007-2013. They calculated the savings for power purchasers generated by the decrease in electricity spot market prices observed when solar PV plants feed electricity into the grid. PV magazine is referring to this study in the below article. European PV implementation has lowered prices by 3% A new report makes the claim that the implementation of PV across Europe has led to a downward shift in electricity prices of 3 per cent. The report, released by PV pressure group The Becquerel Institute in association with renewable energy financial advisor firm Green Giraffe and using data from GeoModel Solar, claims that the rise of PV has led to ‘significantly lower electricity prices’ in recent years. Titled Quantitative Analysis of the Merit Order Effect from Photovoltaic Production in Key European Countries, the report attempts to make the case that without PV production that the electricity market price in Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, and Italy would have been 3 percent higher on average. A statement on the Becquerel Institute’s website states, “The impact of PV on electricity prices introduces many questions on the future profitability of utilities under existing framework conditions, and even more the question of the future competitiveness of PV installations selling on the electricity markets. The conclusions of this study should be carefully analyzed: They show that the cost of PV electricity for the community could be reduced but also that the question of ensuring the profitability of most players during the energy transition will be the key of further PV development in Europe.” However, careful analysis of the assumptions made in putting together the study indicate that the conclusions may be erroneous. Correlation may not be causation.  Firstly, the report assumes that any fall in electricity prices is entirely related to the implementation of PV. But there has been a steady and well-documented fall in oil prices in recent months. According to data obtained by the BBC, the price of oil has fallen from $110 a barrel to less than $50 since June.  Further assumptions are made about what even constitutes the price of electricity. Early on the report, the authors confess to making a ‘heavy assumption’ through only using market prices. There, they write, “Since only market prices were available the authors had to assume that all the electricity consumed is traded on the day-ahead market. This is a heavy assumption but traded volumes in European day-ahead markets have increased significantly over the last years, fluctuating above 40% since 2010 and reaching 52% of total electricity consumption in Q1 2013. Such assumption can further be justified by the fact that the mechanics of the day-ahead market are, in the long run, internalised in all the other contracts (long term purchase agreements, futures market…).” The report also makes no reference to those that generate solar for their own use. “Thanks to the conjunction of these assumptions,” they write, “it appears reasonable to assume that all electricity (and therefore solar) produced is fed into the grid and consumed (no self-consumption, no export or import).” In conclusion, the Becquerel Institute posted, “[The results] show that the cost of PV electricity for the community could be reduced but also that the question of ensuring the profitability of most players during the energy transition will be the key of further PV development in Europe. Considering solar PV energy only, this analysis does not embrace and quantify the total real effect, on a given electricity market, of introducing additional renewable electricity – mainly PV and Wind – in the generation mix of that market.” The conclusions of the report, despite its limitations, should be considered as progress towards understanding the definite environment and economic benefits of renewable energy across Europe. Click here for the article

Specialised infrastructure publication InfraNews has published its financial advisory league tables for 2014 and it shows Green Giraffe in good position in two tables. Green Giraffe was ranked #1 for Financial Advisor by deal value Green Giraffe was ranked #3 for Financial Advisor by deal count Click here for the Infra news website

PFI has published its financial advisory league table for 2014 and it shows Green Giraffe in several tables. Green Giraffe was ranked #8 for global advisory mandates (number of mandates won) Green Giraffe was ranked #13 for global advisories closed (in volume) Green Giraffe was ranked #4 for EMEA advisory mandates won (number of mandates won)  

The Gemini project, which Green Giraffe advised over more than 3 years, won the prestigious “Europe Power Deal of the Year” from Project Finance International. Green Giraffe advised the project on both equity and debt raise, and the transaction closed on 14 May 2014 for a total amount of EUR 2.8 billion, including a record EUR 2,099 M in non-recourse debt.  The Lake Turkana project, which Green Giraffe briefly advised in 2013, also received an award, as “African Power Deal of the Year” See the full PFI Roll of Honour here: PFI Awards 2014 Roll of Honour 

Jérôme Guillet was interviewed by Wind Power Monthly, along with other active participants in the market, about the prospects for the wind finance markets in 2015. What does 2015 hold for wind investment? Jerome Guillet – managing director, Green Giraffe 2014 has been the year when people have started believing what we have said all along: that there is enough money for good offshore wind projects. Gemini is an obvious case in point, but more generally banks are beginning to do underwriting again and they are definitely more bullish about wind projects than they have been in recent years. The commercial terms are also becoming more aggressive on some transactions. I have optimism that 2015 will be another positive year for offshore financing. The experience that people are getting from the current crop of projects will not go away and is going to be a useful foundation for the next round. I think there will be a continued shift towards more debt financing because lenders are becoming more comfortable with the sector, and utilities are increasingly seeking third party finance. On the lending side, the field is pretty wide already and most of the big project finance banks are there. If you do get the underwriting market going, there will be more of the small banks coming into the field via syndications, but that’s going to be on an incremental process. On the equity side we’re going to continue to see more types of players and more players in each category, as people start being willing to take more construction risk. On top of this, operational projects will be changing hands more often with more pressure on utilities to renew their balance sheets. Debt and equity financing have become more project friendly, but developers still have to get it right. They have to be professional in every way, carry out due diligence properly and be clear as to what their actual goals are when going into financing. Many are still not aware of what they need to do to mitigate certain risks or transfer them to someone else on realistic terms. Banks will still not lend to projects that are not structured and managed properly. Click here for the full article and the responses of other active participants Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Jérôme Guillet, Green Giraffe Managing Director, was for the third year running recognized as one of the “top 100 power people” by specialized publication A Word About Wind, with rank #21.   “Guillet is one of the most respected individuals working in wind energy finance. It is no surprise, therefore, that his team at Green Giraffe advised on equity raising and debt arranging for the largest offshore wind financing to date: the €2.8bn financing for the 600MW Gemini project, which closed in May 2014. We have no doubt that Green Giraffe will advise on more blockbuster deals in the coming years.”  Click here for the full report (behind pay wall) Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Windpower Monthly has published its fourth yearly list of the most influential people in the wind industry. Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe is again included in the list. “24. Jerome Guillet, MD, Green Giraffe” One of only two financial entries in this year’s Top 30 list, Jerome Guillet earns his place as a consistent supporter of wind, largely offshore. He founded Green Giraffe in early 2010 with fellow managing director Niels Jongste. Since its inception, the company has grown from ten people to the current 25. While the bank started out with relatively limited ambitions, to provide financing solely for offshore wind projects, it has since broadened its horizons to take in new fields, and is now active across the whole renewable energy market. However, it is still its work with offshore developers that makes it stand out – most significantly the 600MW Gemini wind farm in the Netherlands. Guillet’s himself was key to closing the deal, working with developer Northland Power throughout the financing and project structuring. The importance of the Gemini financing stems from the fact that more projects are being financed through debt due to the inability of large utilities to fund projects outright. It is the largest non-recourse financing for an offshore wind farm to date and is seen as setting the agenda for future projects, particularly those developed by independent power producers. Close to EUR 3 billion was raised from the financial markets. Green Giraffe can also count the financing of a number of other major offshore projects among its achievements, including the 216MW Northwind, 288MW Meerwind, 367MW Walney and 195MW Agrowind projects. It is currently working on the 30MW Block Island project in the US, together with the 332MW Nordsee 1 and 400MW Veja Mate developments in Germany. While Guillet and Jongste hold the same position at the company, Guillet has a higher profile in the wind industry, and makes regular appearances on the conference circuit. Click here for the Windpower Monthly top 30 article Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Specialised infrastructure publication Infra news has published its financial advisory league table for the first half of 2014 and it shows Green Giraffe in several tables. Global financial advisory league table   Company USD M Deals 1 Royal Bank of Canada 9,309 11 2 BNP Paribas 9,297 9 3 PricewaterhouseCoopers 6,858 9 4 Danske Bank 6,493 2 5 HSBC 5,995 4 6 Citigroup 5,560 3 7 Morgan Stanley 5,237 5 8 Deutsche Bank 4,998 6 9 Crédit Agricole CIB 4,868 6 10 Barclays 4,343 5 11 Green Giraffe 4,333 2 12 Goldman Sachs 4,229 7 13 Macquarie Capital 4,094 5 14 Royal Bank of Scotland 3,508 3 15 Deloitte 3,401 9 EMEA financial advisory league table   Company USD M Deals 1 BNP Paribas 8,821 7 2 Danske 6,493 2 3 HSBC 5,995 4 4 Citigroup 5,560 2 5 PricewaterhouseCoopers 5,073 7 6 Deutsche Bank 4,998 2 7 Crédit Agricole 4,868 6 8 Green Giraffe 4,333 2 9 Barclays 4,113 4 10 Royal Bank of Scotland 3,508 3 Renewables financial advisory and bank debt league table   Company USD M Deals 1 Green Giraffe  4,333 2 2 Citigroup 1,088 1 3 Royal Bank of Canada 1,088 1 4 ANZ 1,000 1 5 Evercore 807 2 Click here for the Infra news website

The EUR 320 M Westermeerwind financing, where Green Giraffe advised, closed on 24 July 2014. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time. A consortium of banks headed by ING and Rabobank as structuring banks will be funding Wind Farm Westermeerwind in Noordoostpolder. In addition to ING and Rabobank , ASN Bank and Triodos Bank are also providing funds, part of which is guaranteed by EKF, Denmark’s export credit agency. The financing agreements were signed in Amsterdam yesterday. The total funding involves a sum of approximately EUR 320m. Managing Director Anne de Groot of Westermeerwind: “We are happy to reach this milestone together with the Dutch banks, Danish EKF, Siemens and Eneco. Thanks to the persistence and dedication of the initiators of this windfarm, now, after 18 years after plans were devised, Holland’s largest near-shore windfarm can be build’. Siemens will develop the largest near-shore wind farm in the Netherlands based on a turnkey agreement and will operate the wind farm for a minimum term of fifteen years. Several Dutch companies will contribute to the project as subcontractors, including Ballast Nedam and Mammoet for foundations and installation of the windmills, and VSMC (Visser & Smit Marine Contracting) for the cabling to the electrical substation. Energy company Eneco will purchase electricity from the wind farm for fifteen years, and supply is due to  start towards the end of 2015. Ventolines, who since 2007 managed the development  stage, will also be responsible for project management during the construction and asset  management stage on behalf of the initiators of the project.

Specialised trade publication inspiratia has published its financial advisory league table for the first half of 2014 and it shows Green Giraffe in second place.     Financial Advisor USD M 1   PwC 4,772 2   Green Giraffe 4,615 3   HSBC 4,336 4   KPMG 3,108 5   Credit Agricole 1,721 6   Macquarie Capital 1,694 Click here for the full article on the inspiratia website (behind paywall)

The financial close of the Gemini offshore wind project will help pave the way for further deals, and has confirmed that banks have an appetite for funding the sector, a leading advisor has claimed. The 600MW Gemini wind farm off the Dutch coast recently secured €2.8 billion ($3.8 billion) of project financing, putting it on track to start operation in 2017. Not only was the deal the largest of its kind, but it has also helped demonstrate that banks continue to be willing to finance construction in the sector, Jérôme Guillet, Paris-based managing director at Green Giraffe, which advised on the deal, told Environmental Finance. “The perception – mainly in the London market – had been that construction risk is not bankable,” he said. “[But] the debt part of the deal was oversubscribed, which shows that the structure was attractive to the market.” He added: “There’s appetite for well-structured products – banks do want to do offshore wind finance. There have not been that many properly structured projects on the market. Banks will fund long-term assets they like.” He said that convincing banks to lend to offshore wind projects had previously “been perceived as a struggle by some players”. He pointed to Lincs or London Array off the UK coast as examples of deals that “took many years to get to final close”. The Gemini deal involved more than 20 parties from North America, Europe and Asia, including 12 commercial creditors. Canadian renewable energy firm Northland Power owns a 60% share in the project, with turbine manufacturer Siemens taking a 20% stake, and the remainder split between dredging and marine contractor Van Oord and Dutch utility HVC. Between them, they provided more than €400 million of equity. The deal will help more banks to increase their knowledge of the sector and make them more likely to invest in it in the futute, added Guillet. “Each deal helps the sector by building up more experience. This deal brought some Canadian banks into the sector, because Northland is Canadian, while Natixis, Deutsche and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation took more senior positions than in previous deals.” Another interesting part of the deal was that the main sponsor was not a large utility, as has often been the case with previous deals. “Northland is not a large European utility and it shows it can be done by relatively smaller players,” he added. Click here for the article Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Financial close on the 600MW Gemini offshore wind farm in the Netherlands this month underlined the importance of extensive prep work ahead of launching a debt raise in the sector.  The €2.8 billion (£2.33bn US$3.78bn), 600MW Gemini offshore wind farm financial close earlier in May offered a case study into how to finance deals in the sector, with meticulous preparatory work on the part of financial adviser Green Giraffe allowing the debt raise to complete in just 6 months. Most importantly, the turbine and EPC contracts for Gemini were negotiated and signed off ahead of taking the project to the banking market – in contrast to previous offshore wind financings in markets such as the UK and Germany. Green Giraffe, joining the project at an early stage, played a key role at this point, negotiating deals with turbine supplier Siemens and EPC contractor Van Oord until it was convinced terms would be ones with which banks were comfortable. This preparatory work certainly appears to have paid off, as the 12-bank lending club providing debt to the deal, in addition to the EIB, and the three export credit agencies, were all happy with the contracts at the first time of asking. Contract consensus meant the Gemini sponsors thus avoided becoming embroiled in the type of 10 to 20-party talks that have bedeviled other transactions in the sector, where debt terms were sent out to market ahead of contract terms being finalised. “In terms of risk, this was very clean – and much cleaner than the multi-contract rubbish which has led to delayed or aborted offshore wind financings in the UK or Germany over the past 5 years,” one banking source involved in the deal said. Strong sponsor Canadian IPP Northland Power’s role as the main equity provider to the transaction was also important to its success, with lenders emphasising the management and balance sheet capacity that the group was able to bring to the table. Offshore projects which have been largely driven by financial investors have been more challenging prospects to finance, lenders say. As to lender appetite, the presence of a 12-bank club – providing a €862 million commercial debt tranche – is a clear indication that the offshore wind market is now one which is deal-constrained rather than liquidity-constrained. Indeed, the underwriting of the debt on the part of 12 banks, and their subsequent launch of a syndication of the debt last week, was evidence of their confidence that there are further lenders in the market prepared to take up the debt. There are now believed to be around 30 international banks with credit committee approval to lend to construction stage offshore wind deals. Project history The Gemini offshore wind farm is located 85km off the Dutch coast near the German border. The project was initially developed by BARD Offshore, which successfully bid for the incentive underpinning offshore wind, the Dutch SDE, in 2010. Developer Typhoon Offshore subsequently acquired the development at this point. Contractors Siemens and Van Oord were brought on board in 2011-2012, under the same 2-contract structure used for the financings of the Q7 and Belwind offshore wind farms, with both groups agreeing to make equity contributions to the development. At this point, Typhoon offshore’s equity raising process began – and Canadian IPP Northland Power reached a deal to take a 55% stake in the project in August 2013. The launch of the debt raise followed in November. The incentive underpinning offshore wind consists of a 15-year contract for difference, as in the UK, whereby the Dutch government tops up the market price to a fixed level of €168.9/MWh. The Dutch mechanism has further features that make overall revenues less sensitive to the actual production level over a relatively wide window of wind levels, according to Green Giraffe. Various caps also ensure that the amounts committed by taxpayers are fully known in advance, providing a high level of predictability of revenues, the group says. Deal structure The project has a total capex – excluding contingencies – of €2.8 billion (£2.33bn US$3.78bn), with around €2 billion in senior debt being provided for a gearing of 70:30 debt-equity. Gemini’s equity investors include: Canadian IPP Northland Power (55%) Siemens (20%) Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors (10%) HVC (10%) Typhoon Offshore (5%) The financing was made up of the following components: €450 million (£366m $618m) in equity €200 million (£163m $274m) in mezzanine finance €200 million (£163m $274m) in pre-construction revenue from the first turbine installations €862 million (£733m $1.236bn) in senior debt provided by 12 commercial banks €540 million (£440m $741m) in ECA facilities provided by EKF, Euler Hermes, and Delcredere Ducroire €587 million (£400m $687m)  in senior debt to be provided by the EIB The project’s sponsors have also set aside a €150 million equity contingency pot, while senior lenders have set aside €130 million. The 17-year debt – including the 3-year construction term – is structured as a mini-perm, with full cash-sweeps kicking in from year 8 (2022), to force a refinancing of the project at this point.   Pricing is set at 300bp + Euribor during construction, falling to 275bp at start of operation, rising with step-ups to 325bp by the end of tenor. The all-in cost of debt comes to a little under 5%, taking into account fixed rate swaps. The 12-bank club consisted of the following lenders: ABN AMRO Bank Bank of Montreal BNG BNP Paribas BTMU CaixaBank CIBC Deutsche Bank EDC Natixis Santander SMBC Advisors In addition to financial adviser Green Giraffe, Gemini was also advised by Clifford Chance Amsterdam (legal), AON Risk Solutions (risk management and insurance), Loyens & Loeff (tax) and Chatham Financial (hedging). The lenders were advised by Mott MacDonald (technical), Allen & Overy (legal), Poÿrÿ Management Consulting (market), Benatar & Co (insurance) and Corality Financial Group (model audit). The EIB was advised by Freshfields (legal), while EKF and Delcredere|Ducroire were advised by Kromann Reumert (legal), and Euler Hermes was supported by EY/AHB acting as an independent chartered auditor for the Federal German Government. Click here for the full article

Global renewables magazine and news service Recharge has launched a new initiative aimed at bringing together the world’s foremost young energy pioneers. Pierre-Etienne Claveranne is included in the list. The 40 are made up of a diverse group of individuals from across the globe, from the worlds of renewables technology, finance, development, social engagement and advocacy. The list includes people from major wind and solar companies, banks, investment funds, crowd-funding platforms and governments. Click here for the full article

The EUR 2.8 bn financing of the 600 MW Gemini project, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed on 14 May 2014. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time. Largest European Offshore Wind Financing To Date Project Gemini Reaches Financial Close At €2.8 billion, it is the largest-ever project financing to date for an offshore wind farm; Strong equity consortium consisting of Northland Power Inc., Siemens Financial Services, Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV and N.V. HVC; Two-contract structure for turbine supply and project construction; Strong revenues through Netherlands sustainable energy subsidy (SDE) program; Project will play an important role in achieving European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive which calls on Member States to reach a 20% share of energy from renewable sources by 2020; and Gemini will be the largest offshore wind farm in the North Sea, which has one of the strongest and most reliable wind resources in the world. Project Gemini is pleased to announce that it has placed all of the €2.8 billion of equity and debt required for the project. More than 22 parties, including 12 commercial creditors, 4 public financial institutions, 1 pension fund together with Northland Power Inc. as subordinated debt lenders and the 4 members of the equity consortium were involved in the signing of the financing contracts. 70 percent of this budget will be provided on the basis of project financing, making Gemini the largest-ever project financed offshore wind farm.

The EUR 350 M NOP Agrowind financing, where Green Giraffe advised, closed on 14 February 2014. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time. A banking consortium consisting of the European Investment Bank, the German KfW IPEX-Bank and Rabobank granted a loan of 350 million euros in total to NOP Agrowind. NOP Agrowind will use this loan to build 26 wind turbines with a total power output of 195 Megawatt. These wind turbines are part of the 86 wind turbines of Windpark Noordoostpolder, which will become the largest wind farm in the Netherlands. NOP Agrowind is an initiative of agricultural entrepreneurs along the Westermeerdijk and Noordermeerdijk in the North East Polder (the Netherlands). They will invest together in the construction of 26 Enercon E-126 wind turbines on their lands. The total investment amounts to circa 420 million euros. The turbines have a tower height of 135 meters, a rotor diameter of 127 meters and an installed capacity of 7.5 Megawatt each. The development of the NOP Agrowind project started in 1994. In spring 2013 the construction process started with the construction of the infrastructure works for roads and hardstands. The piles have already been driven for the majority of the wind turbines. The first turbine is planned to start generating power as of September 2014. It is expected that the project will be completed in 2016. 

Clément Weber was interviewed by Clean Energy Pipeline, the renewable energy publication, and asked about the available lending capacity for offshore wind in the project finance market in 2014. Clément Weber, the head of our London team, was interviewed by Clean Energy Pipeline, the renewable energy publication, and asked about the available lending capacity for offshore wind in the project finance market in 2014. Clément confirmed that the debt market was not a bottleneck for offshore wind and that there was strong bank appetite for good projects. 

PFI has published its financial advisory league table for 2013 and it shows Green Giraffe in several tables. Green Giraffe was ranked #10 for global advisory mandates (number of mandates won) Green Giraffe was ranked #12 for Americas advisory mandates (number of mandates won) Green Giraffe was ranked # 8 for EMEA advisory mandates (number of mandates won) Green Giraffe was ranked #28 for global advisories closed (in volume)

Jérôme Guillet, Green Giraffe Managing Director, was for the second year running recognized as one of the “top 100 power people” by specialized publication A Word About Wind, with rank #27. “Guillet remains one of the most influential and respected individuals working in wind energy finance today. And for good reason, too. Green Giraffe’s team are challenging some of the more traditional financial advisories with their specialist knowledge and unparalleled experience. The impressive growth of the company this past year suggests that more is yet to come.” Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

The article describes the novel approach to offshore wind used by private equity investor Blackstone, including the non-recourse debt financing they put in place with the support of Green Giraffe as financial advisor. Click here for the full PFI 500th edition special report

Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe, was interviewed by Offshore Wind magazine in early 2013 and asked about Green Giraffe’s history and current work as well as his views on the banking market. Offshore wind deals are happening and project developers that need money are getting it, but sometimes this is overshadowed by a cloud of negativity from banks and the utilities, which complain all too often that the project finance markets are broke or the regulatory frameworks insufficient. “Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe, says: Sometimes I think the biggest obstacle for the development of the industry is the negative tone in some quarters. Whining should not be a business model!”  The gloomy public discourse, which is a form of negotiation by proxy between various stakeholders, can give the impression that offshore wind is not successful and that things are not being done to lower the cost of wind energy, which is not the case, he argues. There is somewhat of a false perception that the Euro crisis has brought everything to a halt but “deals are still being done!” he adds. In fact, the market is growing substantially with even more transactions taking place Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

The EUR 595 M Northwind financing, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed in June 2012 and earned the « European offshore wind deal of the year » award from Euromoney/Project Finance Magazine. The latest bout of weakness in European bank markets may be more fruitful than the last. This year’s winner in the offshore category, the 216MW Northwind offshore project, marries two recent trends – strong multilateral and export credit agency support, and the search for institutions that can replace constrained bank finance – to produce an influential and bakanble template. Read the full article attached.

The GBP 224 M refinancing of the stake held in the Walney project by PGGM and Ampère Equity Fund, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed on 18 December 2012. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time. PGGM and Ampere Equity Fund, acting jointly through a dedicated investment vehicle, OPW, are pleased to announce that they have closed the refinancing of the purchase (completed in December 2010) of their 24.8% stake in the Walney offshore wind farm (situated about 14 km off the UK coast in the Irish Sea), the largest operating wind farm in the world. A group of 4 commercial lenders: Lloyds Bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Santander, and Siemens Bank GmbH, together with the newly established UK Green Investment Bank plc (“GIB”), have provided between them facilities totaling GBP 224 M. This financing will enable PGGM and Ampere Equity Fund to refinance on a non-recourse basis approximately 70% of the purchase price agreed with DONG Energy, the developer, operator and majority owner (with a 50.1% stake) of the project, that consists of 102 Siemens 3.6 MW turbines, for a total capacity of 367 MW. The first phase, Walney 1, was completed in July 2011, while the second, Walney 2, was commissioned in June 2012. SSE also has a 25.1% stake in the project alongside DONG Energy and OPW. The project is expected to provide power equivalent to the consumption of around 340,000 UK households and to abate 480,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually on current energy generation figures. This financing marks the first loan by GIB to the UK offshore wind sector and is the first financing of a project minority stake in the commercial banking market.

A Word About Wind’s attempt, in early 2013, at identifying the most influential people in the wind industry. Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe is included in the list. 32. Jérôme Guillet, MD, Green Giraffe “Previously Head of Energy and Structured Finance at Dexia, Guillet heads a growing team at Green Giraffe. Guillet focuses on the negotiation and syndication of project finance energy transactions. An active and forthright speaker on the conference circuit, he is enterprising and decisive in his leadership” Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Windpower Monthly’s second attempt, in late 2012, at identifying the most influential people in the wind industry. Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe is again included in the list. WORLDWIDE: Wherever you look, there are signs that the wind industry is growing up from being a booming, emerging market to a mature, established industry. And our second annual survey of the top 30 industry leaders is no exception. 28. Jérôme Guillet “A former Dexia head of energy with 15 years’ experience in project financing, Paris-based Guillet is behind many of Europe’s large-scale offshore-wind financing deals.” Click here for the full article

CDC Infrastructure, advised by Green Giraffe, acquired a 24% stake in ForVEI, an investment company with a portfolio of 30 MW of operational solar projects in Italy. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time. CDC Infrastructure signed an agreement to acquire a 24% stake in ForVEI, the joint venture between VEI Capital and Luxco2 (which includes Quercus Renewable Energy and the recently announced JV between Adenium and Foresight). Total commitment from CDC Infrastructure amounts to €9 million. The transaction is subject to the approval by the European Commission. It is expected that completion will take place in August 2012. The current portfolio of ForVEI comprises solar generation assets for a total installed power capacity of c. 30 MW in aggregate; the multi-shareholders vehicle is now targeting 100MW of Solar PV assets in Italy. ForVEI also recently signed a sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of additional 8MW in the Lazio Region from Aleph Solaria; the closing of this acquisition, which remains subject to certain conditions precedent, is expected to take place by the end July 2012. Following completion, the majority shareholder will remain VEI Capital with 52%, while CDC Infrastructure and Luxco 2 will retain a 24% stake each; the total equity committed in ForVEI by the various shareholders now stands at €37 million.

The EUR 595 M Northwind financing, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed on 28 June 2012. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time. Financial close signals start of construction on 216mw Northwind offshore wind power plant Belgium’s face of green energy is set to change as offshore wind energy gives a realistic answer to upcoming electricity shortage Northwind NV announces the formal financial close with all key stakeholders and banks for their Northwind Offshore Wind power plant. This ends a series of intense negotiations and deliberations that constitutes one of the largest financial investment transactions in Belgium in recent years. The complex and difficult financial process started in November 2011, and now paves the way for the construction of the wind power plant on the Bank Zonder Naam (Lodewijkbank) off the coast of Oostende in Belgium to commence. Northwind NV’s CEO Frank Coenen was also involved in the successful construction of the first phase of the Belwind Bligh Bank Offshore Wind project two years ago. He expressed his delight at the achievement of this milestone in the project plan: “In the middle of the financing phase for Belwind, Europe was going through an economical and financial crisis, making the financing of Belwind in 2009 very challenging. With these difficulties still fresh in their memories, investors are looking today for solid projects developed by a stable and trustworthy team, such as this one.” Click here for the full press release

Pierre-Etienne Claveranne, from the Green Giraffe Paris team, was interviewed by Wind Energy Update in May 2012 and asked about his views on the availability of financing for offshore wind projects. Wind Energy Update takes tips from some of the key lenders on what type of offshore wind project is considered bankable in tough economic times. Securing finance for offshore wind projects has always been a challenge and it’s one that has got harder in the downturn. So how can developers improve their chances of securing vital funds? Offshore wind projects have traditionally proved more expensive than those undertaken onshore. According to Siemens Financial Services, offshore developments are 50 per cent more pricey than onshore, taking into account the need for new turbine foundations, grid connections, logistics and technology to deal with the harsher environments out to sea. Throw in the continued global economic downturn, particularly in Europe, along with rising copper and steel prices, and toss in a good measure of uncertainty over Government subsidies, and securing investment for offshore projects becomes even more problematic. “According to Pierre-Etienne Claveranne of specialist advisory boutique Green Giraffe , offshore wind finance “has never been easy and that’s still the case today.” Click here for the full article

Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe, was interviewed by Bloomberg in April 2012 and discusses the availability of financing for offshore wind projects. “Developers of offshore wind power stations in Europe will be able to find the “tens of billions of euros” they need to build the capacity planned even though banks are lending less, said Green Giraffe.” “Available funds are growing alongside the industry,” Jerome Guillet, managing director of the Paris-based company that advises on wind projects, said by e-mail. “They will come from the traditional investors in the sectors such as utilities and from third parties” ranging from infrastructure to pension funds, he said. Investors including Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. (8002) and pension funds including PensionDanmark A/S are channeling money into European wind projects to tap long-term returns. Britain and Germany are leading construction of 35.5 gigawatts of offshore wind plants by 2020, requiring about 127 billion euros ($166 billion) of investment, according to Bloomberg New Energy (NENE) Finance. The facilities will provide 3.2 percent of the European Union’s electricity demand. “Funding, whether debt finance, equity or other hybrid forms, is there for good projects and will continue to be as the industry grows,” he said. This is despite a “general perception” of financing shortages caused by the European debt crisis, he said. Third-party funding has actually outpaced industry growth in the past two years, he said. Click here for the full article Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe, was interviewed by Cleantech Energy in April 2012 and discusses the availability of financing for offshore wind projects. Fears raised by banks and project developers that commercial lenders have insufficient capacity to finance offshore wind farms are over-exaggerated, according to Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe, one of the leading advisory firms in the sector. “In reality, more than 30 banks are already active in the offshore wind  sector, which means that approximately Eur3 billion of debt financing is already available per year.” “There is enough money for good projects,” he told Clean Energy pipeline. “The perception is that there is not because that is what banks and developers are saying all the time. Developers are often complaining about banks to hide the fact they haven’t done their homework. Banks are saying it to increase the costs of their services, to make it appear that they are rare and valuable.” Guillet cited the completion last year of two billion-euro financing deals for offshore wind  farms in Germany as examples of how there is sufficient debt for the right projects. Green Giraffe was an advisor on one of those deals, the Eur1.2 billion, 288 MW Meerwind project in the German North Sea. Financing agreements for the Lincs and Gunfleet Sands projects in the UK were  also recently signed. One of the sources of trepidation regarding the availability of project financing is a general perception that it is sourced from a small pool of commercial banks that are currently only prepared to participate in a couple offshore wind deals per year, and to commit a maximum of Eur 50 million per deal. Many bankers and developers have claimed this level of investment is insufficient to support the increasing number of projects vying  for funding in today’s market. According to Guillet, this outlook is misleading. In reality, more than 30 banks are already active in the offshore wind  sector, which means that approximately Eur3 billion of debt financing is already available per year. Additionally, the claims ignore the contribution made by multilateral finance institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB) or German development bank KfW. “Multilaterals can typically provide half the volume of offshore wind project finance, so suddenly we potentially have Eur6 billion per year,” he said. “That’s enough for deals in the market right now.” The other main concern is that banks will not increase financing capacity to match the sharp rise in large offshore wind projects that is set to take place over the next decade as the UK Round 3 build-out kicks into high gear, alongside Germany’s expansion to replace its nuclear plants and additional capacity planned by France and the Benelux nations. Guillet stated that this will likely not be a problem because banks will simply commit more resources to offshore wind as they become more comfortable with the sector, in reaction to demand from their clients. “The fact that there are more deals will create more capacity,” he said. “More banks will come in. Those that are already doing offshore wind will have the (positive) precedents and the  experience and want to do more, and those that are late will be aggressive and look to get a stake in the market.” The nature of the European financial crisis may actually strengthen the financing environment for offshore wind. Guillet pointed out that the sector is far better placed to act as a safe haven for banks than it was during the 2008 crisis, partly because of its greater maturity, but also due to geographical factors and a shift in priority for large banking clients such as utilities, for whom offshore wind is the primary large-scale means of meeting renewable energy obligations. “Ironically the crisis is helping, because offshore wind is mainly in Germany, the UK and Benelux, which have no sovereign debt problems. Banks want to finance renewable energy and would rather do offshore wind in these countries than solar in Greece,” said Guillet. “That doesn’t mean deals are easy, but if you do it efficiently and with the proper due diligence, you will find financing on decent terms.” Guillet sees equity providers also becoming increasingly comfortable with offshore wind, as reflected by Blackstone’s willingness to take on development and construction risk when investing in the North Sea offshore wind project Meerwind, and Danish utility DONG Energy’s ability to attract pension funds and other investors to its projects using innovative financing structures. Green Giraffe is advising on six officially disclosed ongoing mandates for offshore wind projects. Guillet  said the first of these that is likely to close is the 216 MW Northwind project in Belgium, which is currently in the market. The refinancing of PGGM and Ampere’s 25% stake in the 367 MW Walney wind farm in the UK could also go through this year, while the PNE Wind-developed Gode Wind II project in Germany could still close in 2012 if it secures a new equity investor swiftly enough. Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

The consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles and DONG Energy has won the French offshore wind energy call for tenders for the Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp projects. Green Giraffe advised the consortium on modeling tasks. French offshore wind energy call for tenders The European Consortium led by the EDF Group wins 3 projects The European Consortium led by the EDF Group has won the French offshore wind energy call for tenders for the Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp projects. These projects, corresponding up to 1,500 MW of new installed capacity, go hand in hand with an ambitious industrial plan which should create about 7,500 direct and indirect jobs, notably with the manufacturing of Alstom’s Haliade 150 wind turbine. The foundations are set for a new industry which will serve export markets. Click here for the full press release describing the transaction as provided by EDF at the time

Windpower Monthly’s first attempt, in late 2011, at identifying the most influential people in the wind industry. Jérôme Guillet, Managing Director of Green Giraffe is included in the list. Choosing the movers and shakers in this global industry has been a mammoth task, but one that we feel we can be proud of. When we set out to find the most influential people in the industry, we knew we might ruffle a few feathers. In the end, having meticulously examined a long list of candidates, there was no shortage of people who left their mark thanks to an impressive array of skills. Today’s wind power leaders need to inspire, motivate, negotiate and collaborate. We are confident that all the faces on these pages have demonstrated this and much more. 19 Jérôme Guillet, MD, Green Giraffe “A Frenchman with 15 years experience in project financing, Guillet is behind most large-scale offshore-wind financing deals.” Click here for the full article Jérôme Guillet co-founded Green Giraffe in 2010 and was a Managing Director until 2021.

The EUR 822 M financing of project Meerwind, a 288 MW offshore wind farm in Germany owned by Blackstone and Windland, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed on 5 August 2011. Here’s the press release describing the transaction, as provided by the company at the time. Click here for the full press release

The EUR 913 M financing of project C-Power, a 325 MW offshore wind farm in Belgium owned by a consortium of Belgian and international investors, where Green Giraffe advised the borrower, closed on 25 November 2010. Here’s the press release describing the transaction. C-Power EUR 1,289 M investment financing for the construction and operation of a 325 MW offshore wind farm C-Power is pleased to announce that it has closed the financing of the second and third phases of the offshore wind farm on the Thornton Bank (located about 30 km in the North Sea off the Belgian coast). A group of 7 commercial lenders: KBC, Rabobank, Société Générale, KfW Ipex-Bank, Commerzbank, Dexia and ASN Bank together with export credit agencies Euler-Hermes of Germany and EKF of Denmark, and the European Investment Bank will provide between them long term facilities totalling EUR 869 M. Click here for the full press release