LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) -
* Green Investment Group (GIG), a unit of Australian investment bank Macquarie MQG.AX , announced on Thursday the financial close on 270 million euros ($313 million) in funding for a 235 megawatt (MW) onshore wind farm in Sweden.
* Financing included striking a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Norsk Hydro NHY.OL , which it called the longest corporate wind energy PPA globally at 29 years in duration. Construction will start "imminently" on the farm which will contain 56 Siemens Gamesa SIEGn.DE SGREN.MC 4.2 MW turbines in Vasternorrland, central Sweden.
* Macquarie Capital (Europe) acted as financial adviser to the sponsor on the project, raising 160 million euros of senior debt from Credit Agricole (PA:CAGR) CIB and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH.
* Denmark's Export Credit Agency is providing export credit cover.
* "This project is the latest to utilise a new investment model: developing new projects by working with companies who want to buy renewable energy directly," said Ed Northam, Head of GIG in Europe
* "This model provides the secure revenues needed to finance renewable energy assets with less and less reliance on public subsidy." ($1 = 0.8615 euros)