A consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell and Switzerland-based Partners Group AG has apparently revealed in a recent announcement that it has acquired total funds of USD 1.5 billion to set up an offshore wind project in the Dutch part of the North Sea. As per reliable sources, the new facility is likely to commence operations in the last quarter of next year with production anticipated to start in 2021. Reportedly, the ‘Borssele 3 and 4’ wind project was awarded to Shell and consortium partners Mitsubishi/DGE, Van Oord, and Eneco in the month of December 2016. The facility, which is slated to be equipped with a capacity to power approximately 825,000 homes, would provide electricity at the cost of 54.50 Euro cents per megawatt-hour. For the record, the Government of Netherlands had stated last year that numerous firms including Shell and Partners had bid on its 700 MW offshore wind project which was introduced with zero subsidies being offered for the energy to be produced. Sources familiar with the development claim that the Swiss investor Partners Group AG had secured a 45 percent stake in the project, purchasing partial shares from Eneco, Mitsubishi, and Royal Dutch Shell in January this year. Reportedly, the project leader Shell had reduced its stake to 20 percent from 40 percent which made Partners Group a majority shareholder. Offshore builder Van Oord and energy company Eneco each hold a 10 percent stake, while Mitsubishi’s subsidiary DGE has 10 percent of the shares, cite sources. Royal Dutch Shell, which put together a 13-bank consortium to provide 1 billion Euros in funding to construct the project, had reportedly stated that there are sufficient purchasing agreements in place for energy produced and it further aims to continue investing in vital offshore wind farms in the times to come.