Gibson Bay Wind Farm

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The 111MW Gibson Bay Wind Farm reached financial closure in February 2015, as in March 2015, Enel Green Power RSA Pty Ltd or a project sponsor wholly owned by Enel Green Power SpA signed a loan agreement for a total of ZAR2.1 billion (equal to about US$173.9 million to be used to finance the investment in the Gibson Bay wind farm, with KfW IPEX-Bank, which was acting as lender, sole lead arranger and agent, with partial credit insurance coverage provided by Euler Hermes, the German Export Credit Agency. It was a part of Window 3 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) by Department of Energy (DoE). The DoE selected six solar photovoltaic, seven wind, two concentrated solar power, one landfill gas and one biomass project as preferred bidders in October 2013 for the third round of its REIPPP and the sponsors for each project were scheduled to simultaneously sign power purchase agreements with state utility Eskom and reach financial close on 30 July. The financial closure was delayed mainly due to the insufficient transmission infrastructure for the generation facilities. On July 22, DoE confirmed that the 17 projects involved in the third round of REIPPP would not reach financial close on 30 July 2014, as planned. Unlike in previous rounds of the REIPPP, where the signing of project documents and financial close happened simultaneously, none of the Window 3 deals was expected to close before January 2015 at the earliest, according to sources working on the transactions. This BOO project worth of US$173.9 million (ZAR2.1 billion) would entail the development wind farm composed of 37 turbines of Nordex 3.0 MW N117 located in the Kouga Municipality of the Eastern Cape and once commissioned the 37 turbine project would enter commercial operation in early 2017, generating in excess of 424GWh per year. This output corresponds to the annual consumption needs of around 131,000 South African households, therefore avoiding the emission of over 383,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. The energy generated by the new wind farm would be sold to the South African utility Eskom for a 20 year period. http://www.nersa.org.za/Admin/Document/Editor/file/Consultations/Electricity/Presentations/Gibson%20Bay%20Wind%20Farm%20(Pty)%20LTD.pdf http://red-cap.co.za/ https://www.enel.com/en-GB/investors/press_releases/enel-green-power-work-begins-on-a-new-wind-farm-in-south-africa/r/1663611 Funding information to be updated