Project Finance Brief: UK’s NextPower Acquires 17.4 MW Solar Project in Portugal

Sonnedix Japan acquires a 14 MW solar project

October 19, 2020

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From: Mercom Capital Group

Global wind and solar development company Mainstream Renewable Power has closed a $280 million mezzanine construction finance facility with leading alternative lender AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Fund IV. The AMP Capital facility complements the $1.25 billion of senior project finance debt raised to date through two separate financings completed in October 2019 and August 2020. The mezzanine financing is structured in three different tranches.

UK investment and asset manager NextEnergy Capital Group, through its third institutional solar fund NextPower III, acquired a 17.4 MW solar project in Portugal from developers Azimuth Molecule and Cardinal Flexivel. It intends to start building the solar project this year and bring it online in the third quarter of 2021. Once operational, the project will sell its output under a 10-year power purchase agreement.

Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), a part of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and renewable utility-scale project developer, has secured a green loan from ING to provide all of the borrowing needs for the 90 MW Sebastopol solar project that it is about to build in NSW. FRV did not reveal the loan’s size or the project’s overall cost but said the non-recourse facility would account for all of the project’s borrowing needs. It is the first time that FRV has signed a green loan in Australia. Construction of Sebastopol has already begun and is due for completion in 2021.

French wind and solar project developer Valorem has completed the refinancing of over 175 MW of renewable energy assets in France. The refinancing consisted of two transactions tied to a portfolio of wind and solar projects and a group of hydropower facilities. The total refinanced amount amounts to €360 million (~$425.5 million). The amount was provided by Societe Generale, Credit Agricole Group, including CACIB and Unifergie, and Bpifrance.

Sonnedix Japan, a subsidiary of independent power producer Sonnedix, has completed the acquisition of a 14 MW solar PV project in the Yamaguchi prefecture of Japan from global PV developer X-Elio. The project is located in the city of Mine and has been in commercial operation since June 2020.

Spanish investment manager Q-Energy announced the sale of a portfolio of regulated solar PV projects to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global institutional investor. The portfolio is made up of 73 projects with a total capacity of 216 MW located throughout Spain. These assets produce over 355,000 MWh annually, which is enough clean electricity to supply more than 115,000 households, or the equivalent consumption of cities such as Valladolid, Alicante, or Córdoba in Spain.

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.

Image credit: Tata Power Solar

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