The Diplomat
The Spanish Export Credit Insurance Company (CESCE) has backed an Acciona Energía project for the construction of the largest wind complex in Australia, the MacIntyre park.
As reported by the insurance company itself in a press release published on March 23, CESCE, through its Green Investment Policy, supports the construction and operation of the MacIntyre wind farm, in the southwest of Brisbane (Queensland, Australia), which will be made up of 162 wind turbines and will have an installed capacity of 923.4 MW.
This project will form part of the so-called MacIntyre Complex, made up of two wind farms: the aforementioned MacIntyre park and the Karara wind farm (102.6 MW). Both will add a capacity of 1,026 MW, which will allow them to constitute the largest wind project in Australia to date and one of the highest capacity in the world. The construction of the project developed by Acciona Energía began in April 2022 and is expected to come into operation in February 2025. The operation and maintenance phase of the wind farm will last 30 years, according to CESCE and the Spain-Australia Council Foundation.
The total investment in the project is estimated at 1,878 million Australian dollars (approximately 1,219 million euros). Acciona Energía, through its subsidiary in Australia, owns 70% of the wind farm, while an investment partner will own the remaining 30%. In addition, Acciona Energía is responsible for the development, engineering, construction, management, operation and maintenance of the project.
Through this Green Investment Policy, CESCE insures the syndicated loan for an amount of 1,098 million Australian dollars (712 million euros) granted by a group of six entities (Banco Santander, CaixaBank, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, HSBC, ING and J.P. Morgan) to the subsidiary of Acciona Energía to finance its investment in this project.
CESCE is majority owned by the State and by the main Spanish banking groups and insurance companies. Apart from commercial risk management and the issuance of surety insurance and guarantees in Europe and Latin America, CESCE acts as an Export Credit Agency (ECA), managing Export Credit Insurance on behalf of the State.
The State Secretary for Commerce, Xiana Méndez, was very satisfied with “the success that CESCE’s Green Policy is having”. “In just one year in operation, several operations have already been signed under this modality, which contribute to the international growth of pioneering companies in green technologies, and are finding expansion markets among the most thriving and demanding economies in the world, such as the case of Australia,” he added.
For his part, the executive president of CESCE, Fernando Salazar, highlighted the role of the company “to facilitate financing and international investment by Spanish companies, in this case, moreover, through a sustainable project” and expressed his willingness to to “continue to be a key partner for Spanish companies in their internationalization process”. “CESCE’s Green Investment Policy has allowed us to structure a very efficient long-term corporate financing solution that covers a large part of the investment needs in MacIntyre, the largest renewable project in our history,” said Arantza Ezpeleta, CFSO of Acciona Energy.
