Norton Rose Fulbright advises lenders on financing of Finland’s largest wind farm

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the lenders on the financing for the Mutkalampi Park wind project. With a capacity of 404MW, the project will be the largest onshore wind farm in Finland, accounting for 2% of the country’s annual production.

Fully-owned by leading French renewables developer Neoen, the project will be financed by Neoen’s own capital and a €290 million non-recourse senior debt facility provided by German institutional asset manager MEAG, a Munich Re company, acting on behalf of primary insurance companies of ERGO, institutional investors via MEAG and several investment funds managed by MEAG. Neoen has also secured €38 million in VAT funding from Swedish bank SEB. Total investment in the wind farm is projected at €478 million, aside from financing costs. 

The majority of the Mutkalampi electricity output is allocated to five 10-year corporate Power Purchase Agreements: a 125 MW agreement with Google from 2019 and four other agreements signed with a Dutch consortium (Heineken, Nobian, Philips and Signify) in 2020, amounting to 126 MW. Commencement of energy production will be staggered, with a first leg scheduled to open by the end of 2022 and the second in the third quarter of 2023. 

A Norton Rose Fulbright team led by EMEA head of energy Charles Whitney and London-based climate change and clean energy partner Andrew Hedges advised MEAG and SEB. Support was provided by Amsterdam partner Wouter Hertzberger, counsel Matthijs van Leeuwen, senior associate Gino Bell, Warsaw-based counsel Marta Kawecka, and London-based associate Monica Chen.

Charles Whitney comments:

“This project is notable not only for its size, but also because it is underpinned by a number of corporate power purchase agreements with subsidiaries of Google and a number of large Dutch corporates, in addition to the merchant financing element. The PPAs with the Dutch buyers are all cross border, virtual PPAs, which is a truly innovative move by Neoen and its partners. It is a trend that we expect to see more of in the European corporate PPA market, as corporates continue to make strides towards decarbonisation as part of the wider energy transition.”