Moray West, part of Ocean Winds portfolio, has secured a GBP 95.5 million loan from Barclays to support the next phase of the project’s construction as part of a wider syndicated GBP 2 billion loan injection which closed in April 2023.
With the loan secured, the project can progress to the next stage, which includes supply chain activities and the start of installation works later this year.
Barclays acted as a standalone pre-hedge executor, implementing interest rate, inflation, and foreign exchange hedges to safeguard the project amidst a volatile macroeconomic environment, according to the press release.
“The support of Barclays has contributed to Moray West reaching financial closure. This means we are now on track to commence the next phase of the project which will see the installation of the wind farm in late 2023. Our close working relationship with Barclays has given us the support required to meet the UK and Scottish government renewable energy targets”, said Adam Morrison, project director at Moray West.
The Moray West project will be built some 22 kilometres off the Moray coast in the northeast of Scotland.
The offshore wind farm will comprise 60 SG 14-222 DD wind turbines which will be supplied by Siemens Gamesa and have a capacity of 14.7 MW each, utilising the company’s PowerBoost feature.
The construction work for the wind farm has already started, with this phase of the project set to create 1,000 direct jobs in the UK.
Barclays is one of seven banks that have supported two project-financed offshore wind farms involved in the Contract for Difference allocation rounds in the UK.
It executed the hedges at the point the project was awarded the Contract for Difference in July 2022 and then syndicated them to the lending banks at financial close.
“With the commodity cost escalations that have been experienced recently, it is likely that more renewable developers will also consider innovation with their offtake strategies and we are well placed to support projects like Moray West”, said Jamie Grant, Managing Director of Barclays Corporate Banking in Scotland.
