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NORD/LB Group as lead arranger for the world?s second largest solar 2009-04-27Go Back
Investment volume of over 160 million euros
The NORD/LB Group and Bremer Landesbank, together with three further partners, are financing the construction by juwi Solar GmbH and First Solar Holdings GmbH of what will be the world’s second largest solar park. The park is located near Lieberose in the federal state of Brandenburg. The project involves an investment volume of more than 160 million euros, 43 million of which are being provided by the NORD/LB Group.
A photovoltaic (PV) power station with an output of 53 MW – equating to the annual consumption of 15,000 households – is being built on a site the size of 210 soccer fields (162 hectares). This solar power station will also save around 35,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. Headquartered in Wörrstadt in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, juwi Solar GmbH is responsible as lead contractor for the planning, logistics, construction management, erection, installation and operation of the solar park. The around 700,000 thin-film solar modules will be supplied by First Solar, one of the world’s two leading manufacturers in this sector and whose German production facility is located in Frankfurt/Oder.
Besides functioning as mandated lead arranger, NORD/LB also acted as technology bank, in which role it, in cooperation with the finance-providing banks’ independent technology consultant, was responsible for the entire technical due diligence in what is to date the biggest PV project to be realized in Germany. “By making the necessary capital available, we have once again shown that even in these times of financial market crisis our customers can count on the NORD/LB Group as a reliable partner in the financing of major projects”, emphasizes NORD/LB Management Board member Eckhard Forst. “The solar park in Brandenburg is far from remaining our only financing project in the renewable energies sector this year”, he continues. “We are working on further solar and wind energy projects – above all in our home markets.”
The financing of renewable energies – in particular in the fields of wind energy, photovoltaics and bioenergy – is one of the NORD/LB Group’s key areas of business growth. With a volume of around 3.5 billion euros, the Group is already one of the leading finance providers in this sector. Besides Germany, the geographical focus of these activities is on Western Europe, the USA, as well as fast developing nations such as Mexico, India and China.
