IN Brief:
- The 976.5MW Gennaker project has secured €2.1bn of non-recourse debt from 16 commercial lenders and the European Investment Bank.
- Major turbine, foundation, cable, installation, offtake, permitting, and equity arrangements are already in place.
- Construction now moves towards commercial operation by the end of 2028 and connection to the 50Hertz transmission system.
Skyborn Renewables has reached financial close on the Gennaker offshore wind farm, securing a €2.1 billion non-recourse financing package for the up to 976.5MW project in the German Baltic Sea. The funding comes from 16 commercial lenders and the European Investment Bank and clears a major commercial condition before construction moves into full execution.
Gennaker, developed alongside Stadtwerke München, is expected to mobilise more than €3 billion of investment and reach commercial operation by the end of 2028. Once fully operational, Skyborn expects the wind farm to generate electricity equivalent to the consumption of around one million German households.
Financial close confirms that the principal debt and equity arrangements, power purchase agreements, strategic partnerships, and major supply and installation contracts are effective. The project received its construction and operations permit in 2025, while contracts covering foundations, turbines, inter-array cables, transport, and offshore installation are already placed.
Patrick Lammers, Chief Executive Officer of Skyborn Renewables, said: “Financial Close marks the moment when years of development, partnership building and preparation come together.” The financing structure now sits alongside a substantial industrial programme involving foundation fabrication, cable production, turbine manufacture, marine logistics, offshore installation, and grid connection.
Commercial risk has also been progressively reduced through long-term offtake. Amazon has signed a 600MW power purchase agreement for Gennaker, while Uniper has contracted a further 100MW. Stadtwerke München has taken a 25% equity stake in the project, adding a municipal utility with a long-term renewable generation strategy to the ownership structure.
The offshore wind farm will use 63 Siemens Gamesa turbines and associated monopile foundations. Fabrication of the project’s transition pieces began this summer at Dajin Heavy Industry’s facility in Penglai, providing an early physical indication that the development is moving from financial and contractual preparation into manufacturing.
Those transition pieces connect each monopile foundation to its turbine tower and carry secondary systems including access equipment and electrical interfaces. Their production must remain aligned with monopile manufacture, port handling, vessel availability, and turbine installation, making fabrication schedules as important to delivery as financial close itself.
The electrical programme will bring almost 1GW of variable generation into the 50Hertz transmission system. Gennaker’s internal collection network, protection, communications, reactive power capability, export arrangements, and commissioning sequence will have to progress alongside the mechanical build if the first turbines are to export power on schedule.
Germany is targeting at least 30GW of offshore wind by 2030, 40GW by 2035, and 70GW by 2045. That trajectory places pressure not only on developers but also on turbine manufacturers, cable suppliers, fabrication yards, installation vessels, ports, and transmission operators. Delays in any one of those areas can affect a project’s ability to reach commercial operation even after debt and equity are committed.
Gennaker’s commercial structure reflects the way large European offshore wind projects are increasingly assembled. Corporate offtake reduces exposure to merchant electricity prices, strategic equity partners spread project risk, and non-recourse lending places substantial weight on contracted revenues, construction agreements, technical due diligence, and the reliability of the underlying assets.
The participation of 16 commercial lenders and the EIB also creates a demanding financing framework around construction. Drawdown conditions, insurance, technical milestones, contractor performance, and completion tests must remain aligned throughout the build, with lenders relying on the project rather than the wider Skyborn balance sheet for repayment.
Gennaker lies around 15 kilometres north of the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula, placing much of its industrial activity around the Baltic coast while drawing equipment and services from a wider international supply chain. Regional employment and port activity will accompany a manufacturing programme that already includes suppliers in Germany and overseas.
The project now moves into the stage where progress becomes increasingly visible through manufactured components, port activity, offshore installation, substations, cable works, and turbine commissioning. Financial close gives Gennaker the capital structure to proceed; meeting the end-2028 operating target will depend on keeping those industrial and electrical workstreams moving together.
