Bank of China contributes $90 million AUD to a $244 million AUD syndicated loan for the 150 MW Moorabool North Wind Farm Project (Linked to Record ID#94511 and #94512)

Project narrative

On July 15, 2019, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of four banks — the Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB), Bank of Communications (BoComm), and DBS Bank — entered into a $244.00 million AUD ($171.57 million USD) syndicated construction loan agreement with Moorabool Wind Farm Pty Ltd (MWFPL) — a special purpose vehicle wholly owned, via subsidiaries, by Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd. — for the 150 MW Moorabool North Wind Farm Project (MNWF). The loan carried a tenor (maturity) of two years and a maturity date of July 15, 2021. BOC contributed $90.00 million AUD ($63.29 million USD), CCB contributed $90.00 million AUD, BoComm contributed $30.00 million AUD ($21.10 million USD), and DBS contributed $34.00 million AUD ($23.91 million USD). Record ID#94510 captures BOC's contribution. Record ID#94511 captures CCB's contribution. Record ID#94512 captures BoComm's contribution. The 150 MW Moorabool North Wind Farm Project had a cost of $359.00 million AUD ($252.44 million USD), financed by the $244 million AUD in debt and $115.00 million AUD ($80.87 million USD) provided by Goldwind. The proceeds of this loan were to be used by the borrower to fund the construction and development of the Moorabool North Wind Farm, a 150 MW wind farm located in the Moorabool Shire in the State of Victoria, approximately four kilometers south of Ballan, 67 kilometers from Melbourne, 27 kilometers from Ballart, and 47 kilometers from Geelongin, New South Wales. The project site, lying on farmland situated along the Moorabool River, is home to the Aboriginal Wadawurrung tribe and is considered an environmentally sensitive area. The MNWF consisted of 50 Goldwind 136/3000 3 MW wind turbines with 136 meter-long diameter, 68.2 meter-long blades, a swept area of 14,690 square meters, a nacelle 10.1 meters-long, and a 5.7 meter-long generator, designed to operate at wind speeds from 2.5 meters per second to 20 meters per second. MNWF featured an on-site substation. Electricity generated by the wind farm would be funneled into the National Electricity Grid via a 30-kilometer long 132 kV double-circuit overhead transmission line connecting to the existing Elaine terminal substation near the township of Elaine, which was being upgraded to connect to the wind farm The Moorabool North Wind Farm was part of the larger 104-turbine 312 MW Moorabool Wind Farm; MNWF was often referred to as the 'northern section' or the 'Bungeeltap section', opposing the 54-turbine Moorabool South Wind Farm (MSWF), known as the 'southern section' or the 'Ballpark section'. The entire Moorabool Wind Farm was cpapable of producing 1,050,000 MWh of electricity annually, enough to power 228,000 Victorian homes each year. Westwind Energy was the initial project developer, beginning site investigations in 2007. In October 2010, the Victorian Minister for Planning issued approval for the wind farm. In September 2016, Westwind Energy sold the project to Goldwind Australia. Goldwind Australia Pty Ltd, in addition to acting as developer, served as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) contractor for the wind farm. In April 2018, Goldwind Australia signed an agreement with Australian Energy Operations (AEO) to connect the wind farm to the national grid. In April 2018, AEO awarded a sub-contract to Beon Energy Solutions for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the transmission infrastructure of the wind farm. Zenviron Pty Ltd won a contract for the delivery of the balance-of-plant works for the wind farm; it designed and constructed two 132 kV substations with reactive plant capability, 55 kilometers of internal access tracks, upgrades to public roads, crane hardstands, wind turbine foundations, and underground cabling for the power collector networks, with more than 70 kilometers of cable installed at the site. Zenviron awarded a sub-contract to Ace Contractors Group Pty Ltd to construct 26 kilometers of access tracks for the 50 turbines in north wind farm, excavate and prepare the turbine foundations, backfill all foundations with structural fill, and rehabilitate areas that overlap into the construction activity area. Bollore Logistics Australia was contracted for the delivery of the wind turbine parts from China to the project site. Bollore Logistics awarded a sub-contract to transport the wind turbine package to the ARES Group once they arrived from China at the Port of Geelong. Construction of the overhead transmission line began in May 2018. Then, on August 24, 2018, an official groundbreaking ceremony was held for Moorabool North Wind Farm, marking the commencement of construction on it. It was expected that construction works would be finished at MNWF by late 2019. Construction works on the MNWF were completed in June 2020, with the commissioning phase beginning shortly thereafter. The first turbine at MNWF began generating electricity and sending it to the electric grid in July 2020. In December 2020, additional turbines began to generate electricity and sent it to the grid. In February 2021, all turbines at MNWF had undergone a commissioning test; however, some turbines required additional construction works to pass the grid commissioning and reliability tests. On April 1, 2022, the last turbine at MNWF was commissioned. In December 2022, Goldwind sold 49% of the Moorabool Wind Farm to Qatar's Nebras Power.