Iberdrola has completed a £1.35 billion financing package – including funding of £600 million from the UK’s National Wealth Fund (NWF) – so its subsidiary ScottishPower can deliver seven priority transmission grid upgrade projects,.
The package was led by Bank of America as Sole Debt Arranger and including Bank of America, BankInter, BNP Paribas, Caixabank, Lloyds Bank, NatWest and Banco Sabadell as lenders.
Among the projects that will be delivered is Eastern Green Link (EGL) projects 1 and 4, which are interconnectors between Scotland and the North-East of England and Norfolk that will allow power from offshore wind to reach customers in the south. NWF identified the region as the most constrained transmission boundary in Great Britain, while NESO has identified EGL1 as a crucial project for the delivery of the government’s Clean Power 2030 ambitions.
The financing will also deliver grid upgrades in five key locations across Scotland including the building of new substations, overhead line reconfiguration and the improvement of overhead transmission cables to increase both capacity and resilience.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “This investment will help to deliver clean power by 2030 by speeding up grid upgrades – bringing cheaper, homegrown renewable power into homes and businesses, while supporting skilled jobs across the country.”
John Flint, CEO at National Wealth Fund, said: “Upgrading the power grid is one of the most significant barriers to decarbonising our economy, and the scale of investment needed to address this challenge is substantial. Our financing will support some of the most vital grid upgrades that will have a major impact on the transition to a renewables-based electricity system and help address the grid constraints that make electricity more expensive for businesses and consumers.”