AMPYR Solar Europe (ASE), a pan-European independent solar power producer, announced the closing of a €400 million (~$455 million) facility with CarVal Investors, an established global alternative investment manager, to help develop and construct a pipeline of solar projects across Europe.

The company plans to use the funding to support its plan to bring over 2 GW of solar capacity into operation by 2025.

CarVal made the investment available in two tranches, the initial tranche of €250 million (~$284 million) and the incremental tranche of €150 million (~$170.4 million). The credit facility will majorly cover the construction costs of ASE’s solar assets and provide some developmental and operational expenses.

Andrew Gould, Executive Chairman of ASE, said, “One year after its inception, we couldn’t be prouder to have reached this key milestone in ASE’s journey to become a leading European solar independent solar power producer.”

“With the support of CarVal as our capital partner, we are on a steady path to turn our fast-progressing pipeline into a portfolio of large-scale solar power producing assets that will contribute meaningfully to Europe’s energy transition,” he further added.

The company intends to focus initially on the sites located in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, potentially expanding to other European jurisdictions and funding energy storage projects.

It expects to begin constructing its first projects in the second quarter of this year and get them operational by the end of the year. The company aims for a generating portfolio, which, once deployed, will be one of the largest utility-scale solar platforms in Northern Europe.

ASE intends to roll out 5 GW of large-scale solar projects in Northwest Europe overtime to help the continent reduce its dependency on gas and other fossil fuel sources.

ASE was created by the merger of NaGa Solar with the existing AMPYR Energy UK solar joint venture between AGP and Hartree Partners, intending to create a major solar enterprise to build extensive solar capacity and offer an opportunity for institutional investors to deploy capital.

Akereos Capital acted as sole bookrunner, structurer, and exclusive debt advisor to ASE, that was also advised by Reed Smith (legal). CarVal was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright (legal), ARUP (technical), and Baringa Partners (commercial).

AMPYR Solar Europe and KlimaVest signed an agreement to develop, build and commission a pipeline of large-scale solar PV projects in Germany. ASE oversaw developing the projects to a ready-to-build state and then providing engineering, procurement, construction management, and operation and maintenance services.

According to Mercom Capital Group’s Annual and Q4 2021 Solar Funding and M&A Report, in 2021, $18.7 billion was raised in large-scale project funding compared to $18 billion in 2020.