Green Investment Bank investing £461m in UK offshore wind
GIB confirms its biggest investments in wind farms off the coasts of Yorkshire and North Wales with the project expected to provide 210MW of capacity and generate over 800GWh of renewable energy year.
The UK’s Green Investment Bank (GIB) has invested over £460 million into two of the country's largest offshore wind projects.
The government-backed bank confirmed is to take equity stakes in the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire and the Gwynt y Môr project off the coast of North Wales and the investments are two of the banks largest to date.
GIB will invest £241 million with Japan's Marubeni Corporation as part of a £500 million package to purchase a 50 per cent stake in the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm from developer DONG Energy. The project is expected to provide 210MW of capacity and generate over 800GWh of renewable energy a year.
The Westermost Rough project will become the first project in the UK to use Siemens next generation 6MW turbines that are expected to increase output and reduce the cost of offshore wind energy.
The GIB has also announced that it is set to secure a 10 per cent stake in Gwynt y Môr from RWE Innogy in a deal worth £220 million.
The project is the largest currently under construction in Europe and is expected to boast 576MW of capacity when completed, providing an estimated 1,700GWh of power annually.
Business Secretary Vince Cable hailed the deals as evidence of the "game-changing role" the GIB is playing in financing the transition to a green economy.
"The Bank has now invested well over £600 million in five offshore wind farms and mobilised £1.3 billion of total funding," he said. "Both the Westermost Rough and Gwynt y Môr projects will use Siemens turbines which demonstrates why their decision last week to build new manufacturing facilities in the UK was so important. Through our industrial strategy we are working in partnership with business to give companies the confidence to invest, securing high skilled manufacturing jobs and a stronger economy."