Mr. Schàfer, when did you see a wind turbine at sea for the first time?
KfW IPEX bank was already entrusted with financing Butendiek back in the days when the project was
conceived as a citizens' wind farm. During this phase we were in Copenhagen several times to talk to
Eksport Kredit Fonden [EKF], the Danish crédit insurers. Looking out of the Windows of EKF's offices,
you couldn't miss the offshore wind turbines belonging to the Middelgrunden project which had been
built before the entrance to the harbour. I then saw my first real offshore turbine in 2010: it took us
two hours by ship to reach an offshore wind farm off the Belgian coast - another project that KfW IPEX
bank co-financed.
Does this make KfW IPEX bank one of the pioneers in the financing of offshore wind farms here in Germany?
No question. At the time we and HSH Nordbank received a consultancy and structuring brief from the
initiators. We worked for a good three years on putting together the finance for the first citizens' wind
farm at sea. IncidentaIly, the costs for the 2^0 MW project were not supposed to exceed 500 million euros at the time. As you know, it was not possible to réalisé the idea for various reasons. Then the project
changed hands a few times until it was fmally taken on by wpd. I am personally delighted that Butendiek
could be realised and that we are back on board, holding a central rôle, thus completing the circle.
Did Butendiek provide the impetus for KfW IPEX bank to include the financing of offshore wind farms in its portfolio?
Definitely. Offshore wind power is one of the sources of energy that are indispensable for promoting
climate protection. The financing of climate protection projects is in our bank's DNA, as is supporting
national and European exporters. For example, we hâve supported wind farms initiated by wpd in Taiwan, Croatia and recently in Canada which shows that we hâve been working successfully with wpd for
some time now.
We consider ourselves to be well positioned when it cornes to financing offshore wind farms because
these projects are both about technological challenges and therefore also about complex finance
structures in connection with large Financial volumes. We hâve our own engineers who hâve detailed
knowledge of the technology. That is certainly one of our unique selling points. And as we had already
looked intensively at this sector ten years ago as part of the Butendiek project, we certainly had a knowhow advantage when the financing for the first German offshore projects reached the market in 2009
and 2010.
ieq
KfW IPEX bank was already entrusted with financing Butendiek back in the days when the project was
conceived as a citizens' wind farm. During this phase we were in Copenhagen several times to talk to
Eksport Kredit Fonden [EKF], the Danish crédit insurers. Looking out of the Windows of EKF's offices,
you couldn't miss the offshore wind turbines belonging to the Middelgrunden project which had been
built before the entrance to the harbour. I then saw my first real offshore turbine in 2010: it took us
two hours by ship to reach an offshore wind farm off the Belgian coast - another project that KfW IPEX
bank co-financed.
Does this make KfW IPEX bank one of the pioneers in the financing of offshore wind farms here in Germany?
No question. At the time we and HSH Nordbank received a consultancy and structuring brief from the
initiators. We worked for a good three years on putting together the finance for the first citizens' wind
farm at sea. IncidentaIly, the costs for the 2^0 MW project were not supposed to exceed 500 million euros at the time. As you know, it was not possible to réalisé the idea for various reasons. Then the project
changed hands a few times until it was fmally taken on by wpd. I am personally delighted that Butendiek
could be realised and that we are back on board, holding a central rôle, thus completing the circle.
Did Butendiek provide the impetus for KfW IPEX bank to include the financing of offshore wind farms in its portfolio?
Definitely. Offshore wind power is one of the sources of energy that are indispensable for promoting
climate protection. The financing of climate protection projects is in our bank's DNA, as is supporting
national and European exporters. For example, we hâve supported wind farms initiated by wpd in Taiwan, Croatia and recently in Canada which shows that we hâve been working successfully with wpd for
some time now.
We consider ourselves to be well positioned when it cornes to financing offshore wind farms because
these projects are both about technological challenges and therefore also about complex finance
structures in connection with large Financial volumes. We hâve our own engineers who hâve detailed
knowledge of the technology. That is certainly one of our unique selling points. And as we had already
looked intensively at this sector ten years ago as part of the Butendiek project, we certainly had a knowhow advantage when the financing for the first German offshore projects reached the market in 2009
and 2010.
ieq