NIB loan to E.ON Sverige expand wind power in Denmark

A EUR 100 million loan from NIB will help E.ON Sverige to finance the construction of Rødsand II, a large wind farm off the island of Lolland in Denmark.

The loan agreement between NIB and E.ON Sverige AB was signed today at E.ON Sverige’s headquarters in Malmö, Sweden. The 12.5-year-maturity loan will help finance this flagship project, which upon completion in 2010 will be the largest offshore wind farm in E.ON’s portfolio.

Rødsand II, which will also be one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, will have an installed power of 207 MW and an annual production of 800 GWh. This corresponds to 2 percent of Denmark’s entire electricity production, or the supply of 200,000 households. If the same amount of energy were to be produced using conventional fossil fuels, it would emit approximately 700,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

E.ON Sverige is part of E.ON Group, which is the world’s largest private energy company and is established in Europe, the US and Russia. The company produces and supplies energy to the Nordic market in the form of electricity, gas, heat, cooling and waste treatment, as well as providing energy-related services to about a million customers. E.ON Sverige has slightly more than 6,000 employees and had sales of approximately SEK 31 billion in 2007.

Demand for wind power as a renewable energy source has been growing dramatically and Denmark is no exception. NIB has been very active in financing wind energy projects in Denmark, such as Horns Rev I and II as well as the Nysted Havvindmøllepark. The new project will be financed under the Bank’s new environmental lending facility Climate Change, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (CLEERE).

“NIB’s financing of this project will support the efforts of E.ON, a major energy player in Europe, to increase its focus on renewable energy, at the same time fulfilling our mandate to enhance the environment. This is also an interesting cross-border investment, as the project offers an opportunity for the Swedish subsidiary of E.ON to expand its activities to Denmark,” says Nils E. Emilsson, First Vice-President and Head of Lending at NIB.

NIB is a multilateral financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

For further information, please contact:

Mr Nils E. Emilsson, First Vice-President and Head of Lending, at +358 10 618 0226

Mr Ulf Westergård, Senior Manager, Origination, at +358 10 618 0234, ulf.westergard (at) nib.int