With the Green Bond the grid connections Ostwind 1 and 2 for wind farms in the Baltic Sea will be financed. Photo: Jan Pauls.
Eurogrid GmbH, the parent company of the transmission system operator 50Hertz, is securing liquidity for the further grid expansion necessary for the energy transition with the issuance of its debut Green Bond in the amount of EUR 750 million. This will finance the grid connections Ostwind 1 and 2 of the offshore wind farms northeast of Rügen with a capacity of around 1.5 gigawatts. The corporate bond with a term of 12 years and an interest rate of 1.113 percent was issued yesterday on the regulated market with the support of BNP Paribas, Rabobank and UniCredit Bank from the circle of Eurogrid core banks. The subscribers come from Germany and, almost without exception, from other European countries, with a focus on Great Britain, France, the Benelux countries and Scandinavia. Like all public bonds, these securities are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The shareholders of Eurogrid GmbH are the Belgian Elia Group (80 %) and KfW Bankengruppe with 20 percent.
Marco Nix, Chief Financial Officer of 50Hertz, explained: "With the first Green Bond in our company's history, we are securing part of the necessary investments in the grid infrastructure over the next few years. In view of the difficult economic environment caused by the Corona pandemic, the financial markets with their great interest in our company show that they have a high level of confidence in our sustainability strategy and investment plans. The transaction is an important cornerstone in driving forward the expansion of our grid and thus the energy transition. It strengthens our motivation to consistently pursuing this sustainable path.”
The projects Ostwind 1 and 2 projects are in line with the EU Action Plan on Climate Change. The EU's aim is to increase the number of households and businesses that can be supplied with electricity produced by wind energy, thereby avoiding CO2 emissions. The Green Bond complies with the principles of the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA). An independent evaluation of the Green Bond is carried out by the second party opinion provider and ESG-rating agency Vigeo Eiris.
The Ostwind 1 project is already in operation and connects the "Viking" and "Arkona" wind farms via two offshore platforms with the Lubmin substation in the Bay of Greifswald. In the Ostwind 2 project, the nearby wind farms "Arcadis Ost 1" and "Baltic Eagle" will be connected to the German extra-high voltage grid. 50Hertz plans to jointly build two further offshore platforms together with the wind farm operators and three 220 kV AC submarine cable systems.
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