Sian Crampsie
Ratings firm Moody’s has made its first public rating of an offshore wind farm, assigning a senior secured (P)Baa3 rating to approximately €960 million of project bonds to be issued by WindMW GmbH.
The proceeds of the bonds will used to refinance existing banks loans and pay other expenses, said Moody’s. The rating outlook is stable.
Germany-based WindMW developed, built and is operating the Meerwind Süd and Meerwing Ost offshore wind farms, which have a combined installed capacity of 288 MW.
"WindMW is Moody’s first public rating of an offshore windfarm and sets an important precedent for this developing asset class," said Christopher Bredholt, Moody’s Vice President and Senior Analyst. "The Meerwind project benefits from long term support under the stable German regulatory regime and incorporates a number of features which, when combined with the project’s strong debt service coverage ratios, mitigate the risks of the single asset’s offshore environment."
