Bank of China contributes to a £2.28 billion GBP syndicated loan for the 448 MW Neart Na Gaoithe (NNG) Offshore Wind Farm Project

Project narrative

In 2019, the London Branch of the Bank of China (BOC) participated in a £2.28 billion GBP ($2.785 billion USD) syndicated loan agreement with Neart Na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Limited (NnGOWL) — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that is jointly owned by France’s EDF Renewables and Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board (ESB) — for the 448 MW Neart Na Gaoithe (NNG) Offshore Wind Farm Project. The project reached financial close on November 28, 2019. The pricing on the senior debt began at 130 basis points above LIBOR, stepping up to 140 basis points. It had a tenor (maturity) of 15 years plus construction, and the debt package with a debt cover service ratio (DSCR) of 1.4x. In addition to BOC, the loan syndicate consisted of the following members, all serving as lead arrangers: Banco Santander S.A., Banco Santander, S.A. London Branch, Barclays Bank Plc, BNP Paribas Fortis S.A./N.V., Caixabank, S.A. – UK Branch, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), London Branch, DZ Bank AG, London Branch, ING Bank, a Branch of ING-DiBa AGch, KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Ltd., Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), London Branch, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba), Lloyds Bank plc, National Westminster Bank plc (NatWest), The Norinchukin Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Limited (OCBC Bank), Shinsei Bank Limited, Siemens Bank GmbH, London Branch, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) (SEB), Societe Generale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), London Branch. LBBW's contribution was £103 million GBP. NnGOWL is a special purpose vehicle established to develop, finance, construct, operate, maintain, and decommission the 448 MW NNG Offshore Wind Farm. In 2009, Mainstream Renewable Power was awarded the exclusive right to develop a £1.1 billion GBP offshore wind farm in Scottish waters known as the Neart Na Gaoithe (NNG) Offshore Wind Farm Project. Then, in May 2018, Mainstream Renewable Power sold the project to the EDF Renewables UK after a competitive bidding process. The Irish state-owned Electricity Supply Board (ESB) acquired a 50% stake in the project during financial closure in November 2019. The purpose of this project was to construct a 448 MW wind farm located 15 kilometers off the coast of Scotland in the outer Firth of Forth. The exact locational coordinates are 56.267778, -2.320833. The wind farm consisted of 54 turbines each with an 8.4 MW capacity, capable of producing enough electricity to power 375,000 homes and offsetting over 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The project also featured the construction of an operations and maintenance (O&M) building and warehouse in Eyemouth Harbor; NnGOWL having signed the lease with Eyemouth Harbour Trust in February 2021 for the project’s 25-year lifespan. DEME Offshore was the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) for the inter-array and interconnector cables, in a layout that included 12 separate 66 kV array strings designed to connect the wind turbine generators (WTGs) to offshore substations, and the offshore substations to each other, allowing for the WTGs to export electricity through the cables. Prysmian Group was responsible for the supply installation of the offshore and onshore export cables, which would connect the offshore substations to Thorntonloch Beach in East Lothian and the offshore cables to the onshore substation located at Crystal Rig in the Lammermuir Hills. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) was responsible for the supply of NNG's 54 WTGs. Fred. Olsen Windcarrier ASA (FOWIC) was responsible for the transportation and installation of the WTGs. Saipem S.p.A. was responsible for the supply and installation of two jackets for the offshore substations, as well as the foundations for the turbines. General Electric (GE) Renewable Energy's Grid Solutions and HSM Offshore Energy BV were responsible for the supply of the onshore substation and the two offshore substations and electrical design. Scottish engineering firm Burntisland Fabrication (BiFab) was responsible for the construction of some of the foundation jackets for the turbines. NnGOWL appointed Muir Construction to design and build a three-story, 1,040 square meter operations and maintenance (O&M) building and a two-story, 538 square meter storage warehouse building in Eyemouth Harbour for NnG and Inland and Coastal Marina Systems Ltd. to design, manufacture and install the harbor’s new pontoon to enable access for Crew Transfer Vessels and technicians. Prysmian hired Tekmar Energy to provide its Generation 10 TekTube Cable Protection System (CPS) to protect NnG's subsea export cables as they transition from the seabed through the dynamic zone. Saipem awarded a contract to Cathie Associates, an offshore geoscience and geotechnical engineering consultancy, to interpret geotechnical conditions encountered at the project site. Other contractors included Forth Ports Limited, I&H Brown Ltd, and Briggs Marine Limited. Construction began upon the financial closure of the project on November 28, 2019. As of November 2019, offshore construction was expected to begin in June 2020, with full commissioning of the power plant in 2023. Project implementation was complicated by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and Scottish Government's guidelines in response to the pandemic, but implementation continued. Offshore construction activities began in August 2020. The wind farm became fully operational and was formally launched on July 24, 2025.