Allen & Overy advises the sponsors on the Îles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier offshore wind farm project

Located off the Vendée coast, it will be the fifth offshore wind farm to be commissioned in France from 2025. The project involves the construction and installation of a wind farm located 11 km off the island of Yeu and 16 km off the island of Noirmoutier. With more than sixty wind turbines, it will supply nearly 800,000 people with electricity each year, the equivalent of the population of the Vendée.

With a total capacity of around 500 MW, the Yeu and Noirmoutier wind farm represents an investment of around EUR2.5 billion. The project involves a financing provided through shareholders backed financing and non-recourse debt from international public and private financial institutions, including the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and a syndicate of 16 banks.

The final investment decision that has just been announced opens the way for the construction phase of the project: the first offshore operations will take place this summer before the effective start of the installation works in 2024 and 2025.

Allen & Overy has advised the sponsors since their application in 2013 on the call for tenders launched by the French State and then the project company formed by the shareholders throughout the process, including the negotiation of contracts with the French State, EDF OA and RTE, the renegotiation of purchase prices by EDF OA, the negotiation of project documents and the structuring and setting up of the financing.

The Allen & Overy team has been led in Paris by project financing partner Driss Bererhi, and public law and project documents partner Romaric Lazerges, with throughout the process counsel Tzvétomira Pacheva and senior associate Zineb Bennis on project financing aspects, and associate Pauline Choplin on public law aspects and project documents.

The team has also included associates Farah El Yacoubi, Wendy Au and Ghita Guessous on project financing aspects, associates Marie Coussi, Vianney Leroux and Ahmed Ben Hafsia on public law aspects and project documents, partner Alexandre Ancel and associates Flora Leon-Servière and Gaëtan Le Bris on corporate aspects, partner Hervé Ekué and associate Nadège Debeney on capital markets aspects, as well as partner Mathieu Vignon and senior associate Virginie Chatté on tax aspects. The Allen & Overy offices in London, Madrid and Luxembourg were also involved.