Financing for a green future:
23.06.2019
Wind Project Wisokolamson Energy reaches Financial Close
Germany-based Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) and the New Brunswick renewable energy company Wisokolamson Energy LP have achieved Financial Close for project level loan facilities amounting to 40.87 million CAD. The loan facilities will be used to finance both the construction and the operation phase of the 18 MW wind energy project located on a tract of Crown land approximately 12 kilometres west of the Village of Riverside-Albert, New Brunswick, Canada. The wind farm will consist of five wind turbines with a generating capacity of 3.6 MW each at a hub height of 117 meters. With a scheduled commercial operation date of November 1st, 2019, the project will be able to contribute to the production of clean energy in the province of New Brunswick in the near future.
About the project partners
The project was developed through a partnership between Woodstock First Nation and Atlantic Canada-based SWEB Development. The renewable energy developer from Halifax and the New Brunswick First Nation have joined forces for the development, construction and operation of the Wisokolamson Energy Project. Wisokolamson Energy derives its name from Woodstock First Nation’s traditional language and translates to “the wind blows very strongly.”
The Woodstock First Nation members are descendants of the Wolastoqey (Maliseet) people who traditionally inhabited southwestern New Brunswick along the St. John River. Woodstock First Nation has developed businesses that focus on the sale of fuels, commercial logging, local fisheries, and gaming.
SWEB Development is the North American subsidiary of W.E.B, an Austrian, community-owned energy transition company. W.E.B operates a total of 238 wind energy, 24 photovoltaic, and 3 small hydroelectric power plants throughout Europe and North America and provides more than 300.000 households with electricity. SWEB is firmly rooted in community energy development having worked with Nova Scotian communities to install 39 MW in distributed wind energy throughout the province.
The partnership between Woodstock First Nation and SWEB Development was formed through a provincial initiative, led by New Brunswick Power who will also be the offtaker for the emission-free energy derived from the project. The Locally-Owned Renewable Energy projects that are Small Scale (LORESS) program was developed to procure renewable energy projects from aboriginal communities and local entities throughout the province through a competitive bidding process. The Wisokolamson project has been selected as part of the aboriginal business component and will operate for 25 years, pursuant to the power purchase agreement with New Brunswick Power.
About LBBW
Landesbank Baden-Württemberg is a “Mittelstands”-minded universal bank with total assets of EUR 241 billion and 10,000 employees (as of 31 Dec. 2018), thus one of the largest banks in Germany. Its core activities include the business with corporate customers, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, and the private customer business as well as savings banks. A further focus is placed on real-estate and project financing as well as customer-oriented capital markets business with banks, savings banks and institutional investors. Staffed with 60 specialists LBBW Project Finance currently manage about 300 transactions internationally with a total volume of approx. EUR 6 billion of which half accounts for renewable energy with clear focus on wind and solar. LBBW has 17 international offices in 16 countries worldwide. Specialized subsidiaries such as leasing, factoring, real estate, venture capital or asset management complete the product and service range of LBBW group.
