Financing Offshore Wind

In the context of the energy transition, with countries and major corporations both in the energy sector and outside looking to reach net-zero, offshore wind is increasingly seen as one of the ways to help meet these targets, and features more and more in public discourses and corporate plans. Quarterly results by quoted companies focused on the sector give investors and the wider public certain information but not always enough context to fully understand the wider picture. In fact, the increased scrutiny by the general public brings back old arguments (intermittency, impact on fauna, relationships with fishermen, localisation of jobs) that have been discussed over the past 15 years and which the industry may consider as “resolved” but which need to be explained in more detail again.

In particular financing plays a huge role in renewable energy infrastructure projects, especially offshore wind. This report helps understand better the different financing structures used and risks involved in financing an offshore wind energy project. By discussing early projects and comparing them with the current projects, it highlights the changes that have happened in recent times in the offshore wind energy space.

This report also tackles and discusses wider energy topics, including economics, policies, regulatory frameworks, but always from the perspective of how the offshore wind industry is impacted, or can play a role, or can be compared to other technologies.

In the online-version of this report – published on our blog – you can find further links to certain sources. This document relies on content from presentations prepared by the author while with Green Giraffe which are still available online on the Green Giraffe website, in particular „Recent trends in offshore wind finance“, presented on April 2019 at the WindEurope 2019 conference in Bilbao.