BRUSSELS, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- A $616 million loan to a Dutch financial group helps finance the construction of a major high-voltage energy grid with Europe, European lenders said.
The European Investment Bank announced it agreed to a $616 million loan to help build a 51-mile, 380-kilovolt transmission connection between The Hague and Rotterdam.
The project, the EIB said, would connect offshore wind farms and a British interconnector to the Dutch electricity grid to secure electricity demand in one of the most populated parts of Europe.
Simon Brooks, an EIB official in charge of lending for the Netherlands, said the future of North Sea wind farms will improve by completing the electricity transmission loop.
"The European Investment Bank's support for the project reflects the benefits both for Dutch electricity consumers and electricity markets in north-western Europe," he said in a statement.
The lending helps close the so-called Randstad 380 electricity transmission ring and will improve electricity links between the Netherlands and France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Germany, the EIB said.
The EIB during the past five years has loaned the Dutch government more than $9.3 billion.
