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£210m investment to help Durham energy firm create 3 onshore wind farms and 250 jobs

Durham-headquartered Banks Renewables has secured a £210m investment package to support the construction of its next three onshore wind farm projects.

The company, which is the renewable energy division of North East property and energy business The Banks Group, will build wind farms at Moor House near Darlington in County Durham and at the Middle Muir and Kype Muir schemes in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Around 250 jobs will be created during construction which, when complete, will see Banks Renewables’ generation capacity from onshore wind rise from 74MW today to 224MW.

The business has worked with lenders Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions (MIDIS), Santander, ING, National Australia Bank and Rabobank to secure the funding.

The three wind farms were all successful in the UK government’s first competitive Contracts for Difference (CfD) programme for onshore and offshore projects in 2015, since when Banks Renewables has been working towards putting the commercial structures in place to take them forward.

Manufacturer Senvion has been contracted to supply and install the turbines for all three projects, with Kype Muir, Middle Muir and Moor House each comprising 26, 15 and six turbines respectively.

Richard Dunkley, managing director at Banks Renewables, said: “This investment package is a real expression of confidence in both Banks Renewables and the wider UK onshore wind sector, and it’s exciting to now be accelerating the process of taking these three wind farms forward.

“The Kype Muir, Middle Muir and Moor House wind farms have all taken many years of challenging development to get to this stage, and being successful in the government’s first ever CfD auction against stiff competition was critical to the projects’ success.

“Onshore wind in general and these projects in particular represent the best value for money to consumers as the government seeks to deliver on its climate change obligations. We believe onshore wind will continue to play a key role in delivering lowest cost carbon free energy for the UK.”

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