Ellomay Capital Ltd is looking for 250 MW of solar PV projects in Italy for which it has signed a framework agreement with an unidentified European solar developer and contractor. The Israel based renewable energy company executed the agreement through its wholly-owned subsidiary Ellomay Luxemburg Holdings.
The unidentified developer is a company with whom Ellomay Luxemborg has worked for many years. "We recognize the potential in the developing Italian renewable energy sector, which is based on market prices and not on governmental subsidies," said Ellomay CEO Ran Fridrich.
As per the agreement, over the next three years, the developer will scout and develop greenfield PV projects in the European country with aggregate capacity of a minimum of 250 MW. Already, the developer is at various advanced development stages of close to 100 MW projects in Italy, of which some 70 MW are expected to move on to a ready-to-build stage by the end of 2020.
It will then offer any such ready-to-build project to Ellomay; if accepted the developer will transfer 100% of the share capital of the entity that holds rights to the project to Ellomay Luxemburg. Following this, the latter will sign EPC and O&M contracts with the developer to construct and operate the projects.
If the target aggregate capacity of 250 MW is not achieved, the developer will be obliged to pay back the advance amount Ellomay has already paid.
In Italy, Ellomay says it has explored and invested in approximately 22.6 MW of PV plants. Beyond Italy, Ellomay is also involved in another subsidy free solar market in Europe – through its 300 MW Talasol Solar Project in Spain (see Ellomay Financial Closure For 300 MW Talasol Project).
It seems the Italian market for PV project development partnership for subsidy-free plants is picking up. In October 2019, Zouk Capital announced a partnership with Solar Ventures for an inital project pipeline (see Partnership For Subsidy-Free Solar In Italy).