RWE announced financial close on a £13.1 billion debt package that will finance the Norfolk Vanguard East and Vanguard West offshore wind farms, each rated at 1.55 GW of fixed‑bottom capacity in the North Sea.

The financing package was signed by a consortium of banks together with the UK National Wealth Fund, which is contributing roughly £1 billion toward the build‑out, while private‑equity firm KKR partners with RWE on the transaction.

Both projects will be equipped with 184 Vestas V236‑15.0 MW turbines, a deal secured shortly after the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7 (CfD) award, marking the first major manufacturing contract of that round.

The CfD strike price for the Vanguard farms is set at £91.20 per megawatt‑hour in 2024 prices, reflecting the allocation made in January’s record round.

RWE cancelled its order for monopiles for Vanguard West from SeAH’s Teesworks plant in April, but retained the monopile order for Vanguard East, indicating a re‑shaping of the supply chain for the projects.

The debt package will fund the construction through to operation, freeing up capital for the next phase of RWE’s Norfolk pipeline, which also includes CfD contracts for the Dogger Bank South wind farms.