EIB has approved a €500 million loan to support BNZ’s solar PV project pipeline
The initial tranche of €166 million will accelerate 17 PV projects with over 700 MW combined capacity
All these projects are spread across Spain, Italy and Portugal in the cohesion regions
Spanish independent power producer (IPP) BNZ has secured a €166 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to advance a portfolio of 17 solar PV projects across Spain, Italy and Portugal. Combined, these projects represent over 700 MW of PV capacity.
The bank said this is tranche I of a €500 million loan it has approved to support the company’s 1.7 GW pipeline in Southern Europe by the end of 2026.
Owned by Nuveen Infrastructure, BNZ is a portfolio company of Glennmont Partners in the business of developing, building and operating solar PV projects.
The financing under tranche I will help generate green energy equivalent to the average annual energy consumption of more than 390,000 households. Most of these will be located in cohesion regions where the per capita income is lower than the EU average, shared the bank.
Backed by the EU’s InvestEU program, this financing will enable BNZ to ‘explore technological and geographical diversity, and to grow in volume and team headcount, with the aim of becoming one of the largest IPPs in the market,’ said BNZ Managing Director Luis Selva.
The EIB Director of Equity, Growth Capital and Project Finance, Alessandro Izzo stated, “The project will boost energy supply security and contribute to the strategic autonomy of Europe by reducing dependency from fossil fuel imports.”
In 2023, the bank had approved a financing worth €1 billion for Iberdrola to build 2.2 GW of renewable energy capacity in the cohesion regions of Spain, Portugal, and Germany (see Fresh Finance For Renewable Energy Power Plants In Europe).
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