Offshore wind finance milestone

Export Finance Norway (Eksfin) said it has reached a new milestone of NOK 10.3bn (EUR 1.04bn) in loan guarantees for offshore wind.

This is largely due to a converter platform contract awarded to Norwegian supplier Aibel for the third phase of the Dogger Bank mega-project in the North Sea.

Eksfin has now provided guarantees worth over NOK 5bn in total related to Norwegian deliveries to Dogger Bank, which is being developed in joint venture between Equinor, SSE Renewables and ENI. Once completed in 2026 it will be the world’s largest offshore windfarm. 

“We’re delighted every time we can play a role in putting financing together for customers of Norwegian exporters, regardless of the size of our contribution. With the Dogger Bank Phase C financing now in place, we can once again celebrate with Aibel,” said Eksfin managing director, Tone Lunde Bakker.

Important market

Offshore wind is an important market for Norwegian technology. The investments are huge, the work complex and there is fierce competition from overseas. 

“By choosing a Norwegian supplier, buyers can count on receiving good financing from Eksfin in support of the purchase. We have a lot of experience participating in complex international projects involving many players and financing institutions, having financed offshore and shipping over many years,” Ms Lunde Bakker said.

Aibel won the EPC contract for a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transformer platform for the Phase C of Dogger Bank earlier this year.

Eksfin is providing a loan guarantee worth GBP 130m (NOK 1.5bn) for the platform. It also provided guarantees covering the first two platforms Aibel secured for Dogger Bank A and B.

“Eksfin’s guarantees contribute to solving our customer’s financing needs which is again important to secure our competitiveness in this important and growing market,” said Aibel managing director, Mads Andersen.

Aibel builds and maintains critical infrastructure for the energy industry and in the last few years built a solid position in the European offshore wind sector.

The company had at the end of the third quarter an order backlog totalling NOK 12bn, of which 43% is connected to four separate deliveries within offshore wind in Europe.