Kolvallen wind farm, Sweden
The Kolvallen wind farm is a 277 MW onshore wind power project being developed in Ljusdal municipality in eastern Sweden.
The project received environmental approval from the Land and Environment Court in July 2021 and is expected to generate 1TWh of electricity per year.
The wind farm was previously owned by Arise, a wind power company based in Sweden. Arise sold the wind farm to Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners, an energy transition fund managed by British private equity firm Foresight Group, in July 2022 for 100 million euros ($100.16 million).
Arise will be responsible for leading the development and construction of the project on behalf of Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners. It will also invest 17 million euros ($17.14 million) to acquire a 9% stake in the project.
Construction of the Kolvallen wind farm is expected to start in 2022 and be completed in 2025.
Place
The wind farm is being developed in the municipality of Ljusdal, which is located in Gävleborg county, approximately 298 km north of Stockholm, in eastern Sweden.
It is 15 km from the 231 MW Skaftåsen project, located in Härjedalen municipality, which is also being developed by Foresight.
Kolvallen wind project background
The Kolvallen wind farm was originally developed by Ownpower Projects Europe, a wind power developer based in Sweden, and Arise. In 2016, a conditional environmental permit was obtained for the initial design, which contained an installed output of 180MW from 50 wind turbines.
In April of the same year, Arise acquired the project from Ownpower for further development and to investigate the possibility of a future sale. Arise signed a letter of intent with Fortum Sweden, an energy company based in Sweden and subsidiary of Fortunein September 2016 for a possible sale of the wind farm.
The environmental permit for the project was denied in June 2017 due to the project’s existing conditions. A new application was submitted by Arise in 2019. In May 2020, the Land and Environmental Court granted environmental permits for 45 wind turbines out of the planned 47.
Arise received the final environmental permit for the project in July 2021.
Kolvallen wind farm details
The wind farm will be installed with 41 Siemens Gamesa SG 6.6-170 turbines and one SG 6.6-155 turbine, both of which are based on the company’s 5.X platform. The platform features a compact powertrain design with a three-speed gearbox, along with a dual-fed generator and partial converter combination.
Each turbine can produce up to 6.6 MW of wind power. The SG 6.6-170 turbine will have a rotor diameter of 170 m, swept area of 22,697 m² (244,308.5 ft²) and tower height of 135 m. The SG 6.6-155 single turbine will have a rotor diameter of 155 m, a swept area of 18,869 m² (203,104 ft²) and a tower height of 122.5 m.
The wind farm benefits from excellent wind resources at the project site as well as an existing line concession and grid connection.
Financing
In July 2022, NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank, a commercial bank based in Germany, agreed to provide financing to support the construction of the wind farm as the sole mandated lead arranger (MLA) and underwriter.
Contractors involved
The contract for the supply of onshore wind turbines was awarded Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energya wind power manufacturer, in July 2022. The contract also includes a 35-year service agreement.
The Norwegian investment banking company DNB Markets and the business law firm Setterwalls Advokatbyrå advised Arise during the sale agreement of the wind farm to Foresight. Newsec Infra, a financial advisor based in Sweden, advised Foresight.
Setterwalls Advokatbyrå also assisted Arise in securing an environmental permit for the project in 2020.
Environmental consultancy Ecogain worked with Arise to prepare the environmental assessment report for a new application submitted for the project in 2019.
NORD/LB was advised by DLA Piper, a global law firm based in the UK.
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