From: Mercom Capital Group

Aypa Power, a Blackstone portfolio company and developer, owner, and operator of energy storage and hybrid generation assets acquired the 100 MW Yadkins Energy storage project from  East Point Energy, an energy storage developer. The project will be located in Chesapeake, Virginia. East Point will continue to provide development services to the project. The Yadkins Energy storage projects are an essential component of Virginia’s 100% clean energy future, outlined in the Virginia Clean Economy Act. The project will increase grid resilience and is well-sited to support the Hampton Roads load growth and planned offshore wind interconnecting nearby.

Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure (GSI), a clean energy subsidiary of the Libra Group, acquired a 233 MW portfolio of solar projects in the U.S. from AquaSan Network-subsidiary CMDAJ. Initially, GSI will develop 40 MW of early-stage utility-scale solar in Minnesota, with the option to build another 193 MW in Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin doubling its current footprint to 10 U.S. states. Following this transaction, Libra Group subsidiaries, including GSI, will be close to reaching the 1 GW development mark, proving 950 MW in solar, wind, and waste-to-energy with over 220 projects owned, currently under development, or previously developed in six countries.

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company, an owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, announced that, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, it has purchased a 49% financial interest in the 150 MW operating Aurora solar portfolio from BlackRock Global Renewable Power Fund II. The portfolio, which comprises 16 solar projects in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area represents one of Greenbacker’s single largest acquisitions to date.

Sonnedix Japan, on behalf of the Sonnedix Group, has completed the acquisition of an 18.11 MW solar PV project from Thai Solar Energy Public Company Limited. This ground-mounted solar PV project, located at an abandoned farm in the Ishikawa prefecture, has been in operation since January 2019 and benefits from the Japanese FiT regime. On this transaction, Sonnedix was advised by Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu. Krungthai Zmico Securities advised Thai Solar Energy Public Company Limited.

Glennmont Partners, a clean energy fund manager, acquired 161 MW of solar projects in Central and Southern Spain from Grupotec, a solar project developer and EPC contractor. The agreement is a continuation of Glennmont’s 473MW solar acquisition from Grupotec in September 2021 that will see their total solar PV capacity in Spain reach 634 MW. Of which 473 MW portfolio will be integrated into BNZ, Glennmont’s independent power producer (IPP) launched in 2021 to develop solar across Southern Europe. The projects are expected to reach the ready-to-build stage in 2022 and 2023.

FP Lux Group, through its third renewable energy fund RE Infrastructure Opportunities, has acquired 90 MW of Swedish solar projects from Swedish developer SunSpark Nordic. Under the agreement, the fund will acquire the ready-to-build solar parks and provide equity financing for construction, while SunSpark Nordic will provide long-term asset management services. The solar parks will be built over a period of up to two years, mainly in southern Sweden, as the energy demand in this region is high and new solar parks in some municipalities can contribute to more security in the local electricity supply.

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company, an owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, announced that, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, it has purchased a pre-operational energy storage portfolio and two pre-operational solar portfolios from Borrego, a developer; engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) provider; and operations and maintenance provider for large-scale renewable energy projects throughout the U.S. The two projects in the storage portfolio, located in New York City, will have a total power capacity of 10 MW and store up to 40 MWh of energy. The portfolio also contributes to New York’s energy storage target, which was increased in early 2022- doubling from 3 GW to 6 GW by 2030.

PNE USA, a subsidiary of PNE AG, a publicly-traded renewable energy company based in Cuxhaven, Germany, announced it had sold a 199 MW solar project to a top-tier USA operator. When complete, the 2-phase development will have a capacity of up to 398 MWp, making it one of the largest installations in the state of Utah. This is the company’s second sale of a U.S. solar project.

Solaria, a solar energy project developer, has reached an initial in-principle and non-binding agreement with ABN AMRO, Commerzbank, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the long-term financing of 736 MW of solar PV projects in Spain. The agreement is subject to the completion of due diligence of the projects and the approval of the banks’ decision-making bodies. The financing is articulated under the Project Finance modality for an amount of €375 million (~$415.5 million).

For reports and trackers on funding and M&A transactions in solar, energy storage, smart grid, and efficiency sectors, click here.

Read last week’s project finance brief.