Aberdeen's North Star Renewables lands £96 million to build fleet for giant wind farm

Aberdeen firm North Star Renewables has secured £96 million to build its new renewables vessel fleet.

The secured loan from Allianz Global Investors supplements North Star’s own balance sheet and equity commitments from its 100 per cent shareholder, Basalt Infrastructure Partners.

The funds will go towards the construction of three new service operations vessels (SOVs), which will be delivered to the vast Dogger Bank offshore wind farm in the North Sea on long-term contracts.

Once completed, Dogger Bank will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm, capable of powering some six million British homes. It is currently under construction by joint-venture partners Equinor, SSE Renewables and Eni.

An image showing the proposed vessels that would be used for the giant Dogger Bank offshore wind farm.

The contract with Dogger Bank will create 130 long-term jobs in Scotland and the north east of England during the operations phase of the wind farm.

North Star chief executive Matthew Gordon said: “This investment from Allianz GI is a first for our industry and attracting project finance from such a well-respected, global investor demonstrates the confidence in our capabilities to deliver and operate our new SOVs which have been a transformational step for the company in terms of our energy transition.

“This is the beginning of a third phase for our business. North Star started out in the fisheries industry 135 years ago before diversifying into the oil and gas sector in the 1970s.

“Our new, unique SOV design has kick started this very exciting new chapter for the business in renewables and we plan to continue building on this momentum,” he added.

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