H&M expands solar offtake agreement with Alight; Alantra & Solarig bags financing for 306 MW in Spain; FLAXRES values itself in triple-digit million range after Korean investment; Ecoener to invest in Greek wind and solar market; Octopus makes 1st solar investment in Germany.
More solar for H&M: Global fashion retailer H&M Group of Sweden is adding more solar to its portfolio under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Alight. Under the deal, the latter will construct 3 new solar parks with 13 MW, 6 MW and 4 MW capacities in Sweden's Blekinge, Södermanland, and Halland regions, respectively. All are scheduled to come online in early 2025 and generate a minimum of 24 GWh annually. Alight will own and operate the projects.
Alight CEO and Co-Founder Harald Överholm said, "This commitment by H&M Group makes the projects viable and adds new green power capacity to the Swedish grid. It's a win for both corporate and community sustainability." The 2 companies are already partners for a 100 MW solar plant in Sweden, announced in October 2023. H&M aims to power all its operations with renewable energy by 2030 (see Neoen & Alight Break Ground On 100 MW Solar Plant).
Financing for 306 MW PV in Spain: A partnership between renewable energy asset manager Alantra and solar projects developer Solarig, Alantra Solar has secured €213 million debt financing for its 1.9 GW PV platform in Spain. This financing will support the construction of 7 solar plants with a combined 306 MW capacity. Funds were raised under a financing agreement with Rabobank, acting as Bookrunner and Coordinator on behalf of a syndicate of banks comprising ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, and Coöperatieve Rabobank as the original lenders. Alantra Solar managed N-Sun Energy investment vehicle will acquire projects from this platform once these reach ready-to-build status. It is aimed to be fully developed by 2025-end.
Korean investment in German company: Solar PV module recycling company from Germany, FLAXRES has sold a minority stake to an unidentified global trade and trade finance company from Korea. With this deal, the German company says its valuation now increases to triple-digit million range. FLAXRES has developed a light pulse technology that helps cleanly separate all composite materials. This ensures that the extracted resources can be profitably returned to the material cycle, it claims. In July 2022, it transferred the proprietary technology to an industrial process using FLAXTHOR equipment. Part of Germany's econext Group, FLAXRES has been working with renowned companies. With the Korean investment, it plans to now offer its technology in select markets to feed end-of-life modules into the global circular economy.
Ecoener strengthens in Greece: Spain's Ecoener plans to invest €300 million to strengthen its renewables presence in Greece. The company has been present in this market through its subsidiary Ecoener Hellas, which is developing a 350 MW portfolio of wind and solar plants. The initial 10 projects of this portfolio have secured administrative authorization. It comprises 42 MW wind and 50 MW solar PV farms. It will develop an additional 8 solar PV projects with a combined 272 MW capacity to be accompanied by battery energy storage systems, that have the 1st license in place.
Octopus' solar foray in Germany: UK-based energy group Octopus Energy through its generation arm has made its 1st investment in the German solar market. The purchase of the 122 MW Schiebsdorf Solar Farm in Brandenburg is the largest renewable energy project in the company's European portfolio. It has also acquired the operational 20.8 MW Hartungshof Solar Farm near Saarbrücken in Saarland. It acquired both these facilities through a Sky (ORI SCsp) fund managed by Octopus Energy Generation. The deals, explained Octopus, mark the next step in Octopus' plan to channel more than €1 billion of investments into green energy infrastructure in Germany by 2027.