This is what they said
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) announces that it has provided project finance to fund the construction of the €8.7m, 4.6MW Curraghderrig wind farm in the Republic of Ireland. The project was developed by Rengen Power.
SEP made the investment through its Environmental Capital Fund (ECF) which is targeted at infrastructure projects in the energy sector.
Curraghderrig is located on the south west coast of Ireland in Kerry, near the village of Asdee, and will operate two 2.3MW Enercon E-70 turbines, each with a hub height of 64 metres. Ground work and turbine installations have now been completed on the site, with the turbines due to be operational by September 2017.
Enercon is delivering the construction of the turbines under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, after which it will assume operational and maintenance responsibilities for the wind farm under a comprehensive 15 year contract. The windfarm at Curraghderrig will generate sufficient renewable energy to power over 3,100 homes which will save the equivalent of 5,600 tonnes of CO2 each year or the emissions of about 2,100 cars.
ECF has provided equity funding for the project alongside a long-term senior debt facility from Bank of Ireland. Rengen, a leading specialist renewables development and management business, will provide long-term management services to the project, as well as retaining an economic interest in its success. Irish utility company Vayu has entered a power purchase agreement to acquire all the electricity produced at Curraghderrig.
Peter Bachmann, a director in SEP’s infrastructure team said: “Ireland is a key market for the development of new wind assets, particularly in light of the supportive mechanisms in place under the Government’s REFIT system.”
He added: “The transaction represents ECF’s first investment in Ireland and the start of a development partnership with Rengen designed to grow ECF’s portfolio of high performing wind assets across both Ireland and the UK. At Curraghderrig we will have market leading wind turbines in a proven high wind location.”
The CEO of Rengen Power, Eugene Keane, said: “This is an important milestone in our developing relationship with the infrastructure team at Scottish Equity Partners. Rengen Power is now actively pursuing other greenfield and development opportunities across Ireland. We are excited about the potential of these opportunities and look forward to delivering large scale projects in due course.”
Michael Lauhoff, head of business banking growth, commented that “Bank of Ireland is delighted to support Scottish Equity Partners by providing long term senior debt to enable the construction of their first wind farm investment in Ireland.
“Through our dedicated project finance teams, Bank of Ireland has participated in the financing of over 600 megawatts of Irish on shore wind farms – enough to power c400,000 homes with renewable electricity”.
Eoin Hartigan, head of project finance in business banking, said: “the closing of this 4.6MW transaction evidences that Bank of Ireland has the necessary platform to support projects of varying sizes, and our ongoing commitment to the market supports the strategically important goal of Ireland meeting its 2020 EU binding renewable targets”.
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