The décisive round of negotiations with the Siemens délégation
dragged on for hours - and was broken off at 3 o'clock in the
morning with no agreement reached. "I then turned to the ongoing negotiations for the foundations, realising that we hadn't
made it. After ail if you don't hâve a turbine, you don't need any
foundations", says Berge Olsen, remembering his majorfeeling of
frustration - but it was one which only lasted a few hours. Firstly
he succeeded in reaching an agreement with the Ballast Nedam
Group at 5 o'clock in which wpd placed the order for the turbine
foundations.
To everyone's surprise in the wpd team, the leader of Siemens'
negotiating team appeared at the wpd headguarters at seven in
the morning, asking to corne in. And something like the miracle
of the Weser occurred [something the local football club, Werder
Bremen, has achieved several times in seemingly hopeless situations]: Within the shortest amount of time, wpd and Siemens removed the remaining disagreements and towards 9 o'clock they
put their signatures to a supply contract for 80 wind turbines.
The fact that ail the while a courier was waiting impatiently at
the wpd headquarters with his engine running, made the scene
almost movie-like. Ali the necessary documentation reached the
transmission System operator, Tennet, in Bayreuth on September
1, therefore, - just in time and the fast track had succeeded. On
the next day, wpd issued a press release entitled: "Ail supply contracts for Butendiek offshore wind farm signed", which made no
mention of the whole drama that had occurred hours previously.
A good two months later, the letter arrived in Bremen from the
transmission System operator containing confirmation of the essentiel grid connection for Butendiek.
A laborious business entailing many trips, meetings and negotiations. The wpd shareholders had made it clear from the outset
that although they wanted to take a minority stake initially in any
offshore wind farm managed by them, the majority of the project
should nevertheless be sold.
No-one has recorded in detail how many hours wpd spent on its
search for investors and on trying to convince potential investors.
It is also of no import because what counts at the end of the day
is the resuit, and in this case that resuit produced a limited number of motivated investors who were convinced by the project.
Initially, five shareholders took a stake in OWP Butendiek GmbH
& Co. KG, to give the Butendiek project company its official title.
In the process, Siemens Financial Services, Marguerite Fund, Industriens Pension and Pensionskassernes Administration [PKA]
A/S each took a 22.5 percent stake and wpd ten percent. This
quintet was then joined by CDC Infrastructure and the Swiss ewz,
the municipal utility for the town of Zurich. The shares of Marguerite Fund and wpd were reduced accordingly. Ail the shareholders
agreed that the project management for Butendiek should remain in the hands of the wpd Group.
WHAT COUNTS AT THE END OF THE DAY IS THE RESLILT, AND
IN THIS CASE THAT RESULT PRODUCED A LIMITED NUMBER OF
MOTIVATED INVESTORS.
But Achim Berge Olsen's team was still a long way from being
able to take things easily. In the Spring, wpd had already charged
KfW IPEX Bank, UniCredit and Bremer Landesbank with coming
up with the project finance for the 1.3 billion euro offshore wind
farm, and the search for investors was running parallel to the
technical discussions.
140
dragged on for hours - and was broken off at 3 o'clock in the
morning with no agreement reached. "I then turned to the ongoing negotiations for the foundations, realising that we hadn't
made it. After ail if you don't hâve a turbine, you don't need any
foundations", says Berge Olsen, remembering his majorfeeling of
frustration - but it was one which only lasted a few hours. Firstly
he succeeded in reaching an agreement with the Ballast Nedam
Group at 5 o'clock in which wpd placed the order for the turbine
foundations.
To everyone's surprise in the wpd team, the leader of Siemens'
negotiating team appeared at the wpd headguarters at seven in
the morning, asking to corne in. And something like the miracle
of the Weser occurred [something the local football club, Werder
Bremen, has achieved several times in seemingly hopeless situations]: Within the shortest amount of time, wpd and Siemens removed the remaining disagreements and towards 9 o'clock they
put their signatures to a supply contract for 80 wind turbines.
The fact that ail the while a courier was waiting impatiently at
the wpd headquarters with his engine running, made the scene
almost movie-like. Ali the necessary documentation reached the
transmission System operator, Tennet, in Bayreuth on September
1, therefore, - just in time and the fast track had succeeded. On
the next day, wpd issued a press release entitled: "Ail supply contracts for Butendiek offshore wind farm signed", which made no
mention of the whole drama that had occurred hours previously.
A good two months later, the letter arrived in Bremen from the
transmission System operator containing confirmation of the essentiel grid connection for Butendiek.
A laborious business entailing many trips, meetings and negotiations. The wpd shareholders had made it clear from the outset
that although they wanted to take a minority stake initially in any
offshore wind farm managed by them, the majority of the project
should nevertheless be sold.
No-one has recorded in detail how many hours wpd spent on its
search for investors and on trying to convince potential investors.
It is also of no import because what counts at the end of the day
is the resuit, and in this case that resuit produced a limited number of motivated investors who were convinced by the project.
Initially, five shareholders took a stake in OWP Butendiek GmbH
& Co. KG, to give the Butendiek project company its official title.
In the process, Siemens Financial Services, Marguerite Fund, Industriens Pension and Pensionskassernes Administration [PKA]
A/S each took a 22.5 percent stake and wpd ten percent. This
quintet was then joined by CDC Infrastructure and the Swiss ewz,
the municipal utility for the town of Zurich. The shares of Marguerite Fund and wpd were reduced accordingly. Ail the shareholders
agreed that the project management for Butendiek should remain in the hands of the wpd Group.
WHAT COUNTS AT THE END OF THE DAY IS THE RESLILT, AND
IN THIS CASE THAT RESULT PRODUCED A LIMITED NUMBER OF
MOTIVATED INVESTORS.
But Achim Berge Olsen's team was still a long way from being
able to take things easily. In the Spring, wpd had already charged
KfW IPEX Bank, UniCredit and Bremer Landesbank with coming
up with the project finance for the 1.3 billion euro offshore wind
farm, and the search for investors was running parallel to the
technical discussions.
140