Helius Energy (LON:HEGY) today confirmed the funding for its £60.5 million biomass plant in Scotland, which will generate up to 7.2 Megawatts of renewable electricity.
The project - known as the 'CoRDe' project - is located at Rothes, Morayshire.
It will take biomass co-products from the malt whisky manufacturing process and convert them into renewable electricity and animal feeds protein supplement (Pot Ale Syrup) in a combined heat and power plant (CHP plant).
It is expected to save around 46,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide compared to a similarly sized coal-fired facility. Construction is due to begin within 12 weeks.
CEO of Helius Adrian Bowles said: "We are delighted that the CoRDe project is moving forward.
"Securing full financing confirms the ability of the Helius team to successfully develop, structure and fund biomass projects, crystallising long term shareholder value."
The plant is scheduled to be commissioned during Q3 2012 and fully operational during the first half of 2013. It will employ around 20 full time people, said Helius.
The company had previously announced a project finance facility from Lloyds TSB Bank plc (LBG) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for the project and confirmed today that Rabo Project Equity BV ("Rabo"), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Rabobank Group, had acquired equity in the CoRDe joint venture company.
Ownership of CoRDe now comprises Helius, Rabo, and the combination of Rothes Distillers Limited ("CoRD") - a joint venture between Ben Riach Distillery Co Ltd, Chivas Brothers Ltd (Pernod Ricard), The Edrington Group, Glen Grant Distillery Co Ltd (Campari) , Inverhouse Distillers (ThaiBev), Diageo and John Dewar & Son (Bacardi).
Under the financing, LBG and RBS will provide a senior debt facility of approximately 70 per cent (representing around £42.4mln), Rabo will take a 44.7 per cent (-1 share) stake in the project company and CoRD will retain 5.3 per cent.
Helius will hold a majority position with 50% (+1 share) of the shares for an additional equity investment of around £4.2 mln. Helius and CoRD have invested circa £4.6 mln of development funding to date that has been capitalised within the £60.5mln capital cost.
Bowles added: "Helius is working with potential partners to pursue similar equity funding arrangements for our other projects, including our 100MW consented site at Avonmouth, where we are also currently in discussion with debt finance providers. Further updates will be provided in due course."
Helius Energy is a developer of biomass-fired renewable electricity generation plants at sizes ranging from around seven megawatts to 100MW.
The firm is involved in several projects and its long-term aim is to be an owner/operator of 500MW worth of power plant assets.
The company is focused on the 100 megawatt (MW) Avonmouth biomass plant, located on the Bristol Channel, a 7.2MW project in Scotland with the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRDe) and another 100MW biomass plant proposed for Southampton.