50Hertz's parent to fund offshore grid links with EUR-750m green bond

The parent company of 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, the transmission system operator (TSO) in northern and eastern Germany, has placed a EUR-750-million (USD 813m) green bond to finance the grid links for 1.5 GW of offshore wind farms.

The specific grid connections, Ostwind 1 and 2, will be used for wind parks northeast Germany Rugen island, 50Hertz said on Thursday. It noted this is the first green bond sale within the group.

The bond was issued by Eurogrid GmbH, which is 80%-owned by Belgian transmission system operator Elia and Germany’s KfW Bankengruppe. With a 12-year term and an interest of 1.113%, the bond is listed on the Luxembourg stock exchange. Its placement attracted investors from Germany, the UK, France, the Benelux countries and Scandinavia. “In view of the difficult economic environment caused by the Corona pandemic, the financial markets with their great interest in our company show that they have a high level of confidence in our sustainability strategy and investment plans,” said Marco Nix, CFO of 50Hertz.

The transaction was conducted with the support of BNP Paribas, Rabobank and UniCredit Bank.

Ostwind 1 is already operational and connects the Viking and Arkona wind parks, while Ostwind 2 will link the nearby Arcadis Ost 1 and Baltic Eagle wind parks to the German power grid.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.084)

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