May 2026
LBBW Finances Flagship Wind Farm in Papenburg
The wind farm will cover around 20 percent of the annual electricity requirements of Mercedes-Benz production in Germany with green electricity.
LBBW accompanies a flagship project aiding the industrial energy transition: In cooperation with Helaba, it is financing the construction and the operation of one of the largest onshore wind farms in Germany on the Mercedes-Benz AG test site south of Papenburg in Lower Saxony. Current plans show the construction of 20 Nordex wind turbines with a capacity of 7 MW each, accumulating a total of 140 MW.
A large portion of the generated green electricity will be supplied to Mercedes-Benz facilitated through a “pay-as-produced” Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). In the future, around one fifth of Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s energy requirements in Germany are expected to be covered by this wind farm. Papenburg is scheduled to start operations in 2027.
Together with Helaba, LBBW is providing financing in a nine-figure range. In addition to its role as a lender, LBBW is assuming the central role of structuring and implementation of the financing aspect as well as structurer, arranger, hedging bank, administrative agent and collateral trustee.
The financing of the wind farm impressively illustrates our strengths as a medium-sized universal bank
„The financing of the wind farm impressively illustrates our strengths as a medium-sized universal bank”, says Jens Heil, Head of Sustainable energy Finance at LBBW. „Thanks to our extensive structuring expertise as a major bank, we are able to support even the most complex projects completely in house and present a long term and economically viable solution for our customers.”
For Lars Vogel, Head of Financing & Asset Management at UKA Group, the onshore wind farm is a state-of-the-art project: „The Papenburg project is exceptional in several ways: both in terms of its size and rapid project realization as well as the particularly high complexity of the structuring. We would like to thank LBBW for the collaborative cooperation and in particular for the implementation of this highly customized project financing, which has developed iteratively as the project progressed and corresponded exactly to our expectations.“
The wind farm in Papenburg is another example of how LBBW can cater to its strengths as a medium-sized universal bank in sustainable infrastructure finance: with industry expertise, structuring competence and tailored solution for the transformation of the economy.
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