From: Mercom Capital Group

Canadian Solar, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Recurrent Energy and Matrix Renewables, the TPG Rise-backed global renewable energy platform, announced an agreement whereby Matrix Renewables will acquire the Gaskell West 2 and 3 project of 105 MW solar plus 80 MWh energy storage. The Gaskell West 2 and 3 project is in Kern County, California, and is fully contracted, holding five long-term power purchase agreements with cities and utilities in California.  The solar plus storage project is expected to reach commercial operation in late 2022.

Ingka Investments, an investment arm of Ingka Group, acquired nine solar PV projects totaling 440 MW in Germany and Spain from solar PV developer Enerparc. The expected generation capacity of the solar PV projects is around 300 MW in Germany across four solar development projects and 140 MW in Spain across five solar development projects. The total investment in the solar PV development portfolio will amount to approximately €340 million (~$371 million). The expected production from the solar projects in Germany and Spain will generate the equivalent of electricity consumption in all IKEA stores and warehouses in the two countries. The projects are in the early stages and are expected to become ready for construction at the end of 2022, progressing into 2023.

Aspen Power Partners, a distributed generation platform focused on solar and storage assets across the U.S., is acquiring 53 MW of community solar projects in Maryland and Pennsylvania from Trajectory Energy Partners. Trajectory Energy Partners will lead the development of the sites. Aspen will provide the financial support – approximately $96 million – and oversee the design, subscriber management, and long-term ownership of the assets. The portfolio consists of ten projects across the mid-Atlantic region. Four of the sites are in Maryland and will participate in the state’s pilot community solar program. The remaining six sites are in Pennsylvania and will be developed in advance of that state’s pending community solar legislation.

Triple Point Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Company announced that through TEEC Holdings, it had signed contracts to provide a debt facility to a subsidiary of Virmati Energy to build a portfolio of four Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) assets in the UK. The total Facility amounts to £45.6 million (~$ million) and carries a fixed interest rate to support TEEC to meet its dividend target. The portfolio has a total capacity of 110 MW. The first BESS asset, which is a one-hour duration battery, is expected to become operational in June 2022. It is located in the North of England and has a total capacity of 20 MW. The other three BESS assets are located in Scotland (two-hour duration battery; total capacity 50 MW), Wales (two-hour duration battery; total capacity 20 MW), and the Southeast of England (one-hour duration battery; total capacity 20 MW). These are expected to become operational in 2023.

Alternus Energy Group, a renewable independent power producer, has completed the acquisition of 11 MW of operational Polish solar projects as part of a 24 MW contract. This acquisition brings the company’s operational portfolio in Poland to 88.6 MW. Alternus partnered with a local developer to develop and install the assets to start commercial operation in the first quarter of 2022. All projects, 1 MW in size and located across the country, are supported by 15-year government offtake agreements.

ReneSola, a fully integrated solar project developer, closed the sale of a 24 MW solar-plus-storage project in the UK to Innova, a company that invests in and operates renewable energy assets, focusing on utility-scale ground-mounted solar projects and battery energy storage sites located in the UK. The project is located south of Witney in West Oxfordshire, England, and sold at the Ready to Build (RtB) stage, with the development designed to operate for around 40 years.

Sonnedix, an independent solar power producer, has secured financing of JPY 765 million (~$6.17 million) for 2.8 MW of solar projects from The Iyo Bank. The projects are in Tottori and Shizuoka districts and were acquired in late 2021 from Trina Solar International System Business Unit (ISBU) in Japan – Trina Solar Japan Energy. One of the projects (Sonnedix Yonago) was at the operational stage at the time of acquisition, whilst the other plant (Sonnedix Hamamatsu) reached commercial operation on March 26, 2022.

EUSOLAG European Solar, a renewable energy company, has acquired a 4 MW ready-to-build solar project. The project is expected to be completed in Q3 2022 and is expected to produce above 50,00,000 KWh per annum. EUSOLAG currently holds commercial negotiations for the sale of green energy to Energy Utility companies and Industrial off-takers.

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.