Marubeni Corporation (Marubeni) is pleased to announce that Westermost Rough (WMR) Offshore Wind Power Project (the Project), which is jointly owned by Marubeni, DONG Energy, and UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), started commercial operation on June 29, 2015. An inauguration ceremony was held in Grimsby, U.K. on July 1, 2015.
This Project consists of 35 units of Siemens 6MW new turbines and will provide enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 150,000 homes over an operation period of 25 years. In September 2014, the project finance was arranged with a consortium of lenders comprising Japan Bank of International Corporation, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Siemens Financial Services (Germany), and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking (France), and the construction work of the wind farm progressed as scheduled.
The ceremony was successfully held with around 150 attendees including government officials, representatives from the shareholders, lenders and contractors.
The WMR project is Marubeni’s second equity investment in an offshore wind project following its participation in the Gunfleet Sands offshore wind asset in 2011. Marubeni will be working closely with DONG Energy and GIB to achieve safe and stable operation of this project and will also continue to develop opportunities in the offshore wind power sphere.
Marubeni’s total generation capacity worldwide, including Japan, is 35,853 MW (gross) and 10,437 MW (net) which represents the largest capacity among Japanese independent power producers. Renewable energy generation constitutes 2,272MW (gross) and approximately 1,000MW (net) of this capacity.
Marubeni will continue promoting investments into power projects all over the world including renewable energy projects. From our experience and know-how obtained from investment in offshore wind projects, operation of jack-up vessels for installation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines in Europe, as well as the experimental offshore floating wind farm projects in Japan, Marubeni will contribute to the global demand for low-carbon power sources.
