Cape Wind Gets $200M Boost to Make Investment Decision This Year

PensionDenmark has committed to invest $200 million in the project on the condition that a final investment decision on the project will be made by the end of the year. PensionDenmark says that as a "lighthouse project," Cape Wind is crucial to advance the offshore wind industry in the U.S.

The much-watched $2.6 billion project with a nameplate capacity of 454 MW could break ground this year after a dozen years of delays. Launched in 2001, the 130-turbine wind farm being developed in the Nantucket Sound, off the coast of Massachusetts has obtained a federal lease and secured agreements with utilities to purchase about 75% of its produced power, but it has been repeatedly stalled by a number of contentious lawsuits and financing hurdles.

The project will reportedly be financed through a combination of equity from investors and loans from banks and other institutions. The Japanese Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is expected to coordinate debt financing for the project.

PensionDenmark, Denmark’s largest labor market pension fund, has invested $1.06 billion in infrastructure, including in Danish offshore wind farms Nysted and Anholt and three U.S. wind farms in Texas and Pennsylvania.

Sources: POWERnews, Cape Wind, PensionDenmark

—Sonal Patel, Senior Writer (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)