Project Financing for Le Treport Offshore Wind Farm Project in France
Supporting Renewable Energy Power Generation Project of Japanese Company under GREEN Operations

• Region: Europe
• Infrastructures
• Environment
• Overseas Investment Loans
• Project Finance

1. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: HAYASHI Nobumitsu) signed on April 26 a loan agreement in project financing^*1 amounting to up to approximately EUR1.1 billion (JBIC portion) with Eoliennes en Mer Dieppe Le Treport S.A.S.(Le Treport) in France, which is invested in by, Sumitomo Corporation, Ocean Winds (Spain), and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (France), for an offshore wind farm project. The loan is co-financed with private financial institutions^*2, French public investment bank Bpifrance and French postal bank La Banque Postale, bringing the total co-financing amount to approximately EUR2.4 billion.
     
2. In this project, Le Treport will build, own, and operate an approximately 500 MW offshore wind farm located on the English Channel, 15.5 km off the coast of northern France. Upon commencement of the wind farm's commercial operation, the electricity generated by the project will be sold to the French electric utility company Electricite de France for a duration of 20 years.
     
3. In the Law on Energy and Climate, adopted in 2019, the Government of France set a goal to increase the proportion of renewable energy in its energy mix to at least 40% by 2030. To achieve this goal, the Government aims to increase the country's offshore wind farm capacity to 2.4 GW in 2023 and 5 GW in 2028. In April 2020, the Government announced the Multi-Annual Energy Plan, according to which the Government aspires to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, proclaiming its policy to promote decreasing nuclear power generation, reducing fossil fuel consumption, and introducing renewable energy on a large scale. The loan is in line with the renewable energy transition policy of the Government of France and will contribute toward preserving the global environment through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
     
4. In the Infrastructure System Overseas Promotion Strategy 2025 (supplemented in June 2022), the Government of Japan, in support of the transition to carbon neutrality and decarbonization, established the policy of providing support for quality energy and electricity infrastructure that harnesses sophisticated technologies to reduce the burden on the environment in a way that is compatible with the energy policy of the host countries. The loan is in line with this policy and will financially support an overseas infrastructure project where a Japanese company has invested and will be involved in its operation and management for a long term, thereby contributing toward maintaining and improving the international competitiveness of Japanese industry.
     
5. As Japan's policy-based financial institution, JBIC will continue to provide financial support to assist Japanese companies in the overseas expansion of their infrastructure businesses toward decarbonization by drawing on its various financial facilities and schemes for structuring projects and by performing its risk-assuming function.
     

Note

1. *1 
   Project finance is a financing scheme in which repayments for a loan are made solely from the cash flow generated by the project.
2. *2 
   MUFG Bank, Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., the Norinchukin Bank, Société Générale S.A., Crédit Agricole CIB, Caisse d'Epargne et de Prévoyance Normandie, BPCE Energeco, BNP Paribas S.A., Standard Chartered Bank, NatWest Bank Europe GmbH, CaixaBank, S.A., Santander CIB, DZ Bank AG, Coöperatieve Rabobanks U.A.