It goes against all of NATO – it intends to do what everyone rejects

Widespread bankruptcy closure – a multibillion-dollar hit to taxpayers

It is about the “Markbygden Ett” wind farm outside Piteå.

It is owned by Chinese state-owned CGN, currently has significant debt and is under construction.

Affärsvärlden reveals that this risks causing a billion-dollar hit to Swedish and European taxpayers.

Risk to taxpayers

Specifically, the European Investment Bank, EIB, is Markbygden Ett's largest lender.

The European Investment Bank has lent up to SEK 2.1 billion for the wind farm.

The newspaper reported that the matter is mostly related to funds guaranteed by the European Union budget.

In other words, European taxpayers are the ones bearing the risk.

They say that the EIB belongs to secured lenders.

– This means that claims will be dealt with according to rank and priority in the loan hierarchy, meaning the EIB has priority with other secured lenders, the EIB wrote.

A Chinese company is in debt

However, they do not want to limit the EIB's place in the loan hierarchy.

Other lenders are a number of German banks.

The Chinese company CGN, which through a subsidiary owns 75 percent of Markbygden Ett, owns a total of six wind farms in Sweden with debts totaling 15 billion Swedish krona, according to the newspaper.

On November 2 last year, they applied for the reconstruction of Markbygden Et, and at the end of February they were granted a three-month extension, SVT reports.

Objections from the Swedish Tax Agency

The restructuring was extended despite the opposition of major creditors, according to the channel.

The state, represented by the Tax Authority, also opposed the decision.

They did not consider that creditors should bear the financial consequences of the failure of the wind farm.

Instead, it should be up to the owners to contribute additional funds if they want to avoid declaring the company bankrupt, the tax agency said.

The owners in this case are therefore the Chinese state.

But Markbygden Ett has been given a new opportunity to try to avoid bankruptcy.

Facts: Markbygden ETT

Number of turbines: 179
Installed capacity: 653 MW
Estimated annual production: 2.2 TWh

Source: Svevind

Photo: T. Reuborg

Text: Editors