UK: Mott MacDonald Helps Northwind Project to Reach Financial Close

The 216MW Northwind offshore wind farm project, located in the North Sea, 37km off the Belgian coast, has reached financial close. Mott MacDonald is the lenders’ technical advisor and lenders’ engineer for the project.

Northwind will cover an area of approximately 14.5km² and will include 72 Vestas V112 wind turbines each with 3MW capacity. It will be one of the first offshore wind farms to deploy these turbines. Providing sustainable energy for 230,000 households, the project will help Belgium meet its national and EU targets for renewable energy generation as well as cutting CO2 emissions by 50,000 tonnes annually.

Mott MacDonald was commissioned in 2010 to provide due diligence and identify any key risks during construction and operation of the project. The consultancy provided valuable input on important aspects of the development and contracting phase of the project such as the usage of a 220kV export cable and the deployment of the new V112 3MW offshore wind turbine.

John Porter, Mott MacDonald’s project director, said: “Mott MacDonald scrutinised all technical, environmental and commercial aspects of the project and reported to the lenders that the project is robust and well developed, which led to a successful financial close. We have worked with the Northwind team before and were lenders technical advisor for the Bligh Bank and Princess Amalia offshore wind farms.”

Mott MacDonald will provide construction monitoring services as the project develops and will continue to monitor operations once the wind farm is complete.

The project has a capital value of €850 million and is due for completion in 2014.

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Offshore WIND staff, July 5, 2012; Image: Northwind