Financial close achieved for Taiwan’s Formosa 1 offshore wind farm

Formosa I, Taiwan’s first offshore wind farm, reached financial close on the 8th of June 2018. A financial consortium of eleven international and local Taiwanese banks as well as EKF, Denmark’s Export Credit Agency has completed this NT$18.7bn 16-year project financing. It is the first project financing in the Taiwanese offshore wind industry.

Formosa 1 is a joint venture between Ørsted (35% ownership), Taiwanese developer  Swancor (15%), and Macquarie Capital (50%). The first phase of the project has been operational since April 2017 and consists of two 4MW offshore wind turbines.

For this project, long-term project financing will be utilized to fund the development, construction, commissioning, testing and operation of phase II and refinance the existing phase I facilities of the Formosa 1 project. The offshore wind farm is situated 2 to 6 kilometres from the Miaoli coast in North-Western Taiwan. Phase II, to be constructed in 2019, will add an extra 120MW of capacity through 20 6MW offshore wind turbines for a total capacity of 128MW.

The financial consortium comprises four local Taiwanese banks: Cathay United Bank, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, EnTie Commercial Bank, and KGI Bank. Furthermore, seven international banks have participated: ANZ Banking Group, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank, ING Bank, MUFJ Bank and Société Générale. It is also the first participation of EKF in a project financing in Taiwan.