A consortium led by DEME Concessions Wind, which includes five sponsors has provided nearly EUR 500 million in equity to develop the 396-MW Merkur offshore wind project in the German North Sea.

The group comprises Swiss investment manager Partners Group Holding with a 50% stake held on behalf of its clients, InfraRed Capital Partners with 25%, DEME Concessions Wind with 12.5%, GE Energy Financial Services with 6.25% and French state-run agency ADEME with 6.25%. At the same time, a group of 10 international banks have committed about EUR 1.2 billion of senior secured debt. The group includes KfW Mittelstandsbank, ABN Amro, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, KfW IPEX, Natixis, Rabobank, SEB, SMBC and Societe Generale. The Merkur Offshore wind farm will be one of Germany’s largest wind farms. The wind project is scheduled to be built approximately 45km north of the islands of Borkum, Germany, and is estimated to cost EUR 1.6bn. It will feature 66 GE Haliade 150-6MW wind turbine generators. It is expected to generate approximately 1,750GWh annually, able to power around 500,000 homes. GeoSea, a member of the DEME Group, will undertake the construction of the wind project. Work will start immediately, with offshore foundations installation scheduled to begin in August 2017. The plant is expected to become operation in March 2019 and to benefit from the Germany’s offshore feed-in-tariff.