Solar Power Offtake Agreement In Sweden

• Alight and Axfood announce solar power offtake agreement for Sweden's 'largest' solar power plant
• It will also be the 1^st solar project to be financed not by traditionally used medium of equity, but by non-recourse debt facility in the country
• Axfood will procure clean energy from the 64 MW project for 12 years at a low, fixed price

Solar power projects developer Alight in Sweden has secured local food retail group Axfood as offtaker for its 64 MW solar farm calling it the largest PV park in the country that will provide the latter 'better hedge against market volatility' for 12 years with a low, fixed price.

Alight also says it will be the country's first solar asset financed with a dedicated non-recourse debt facility, moving away from projects historically financed with equity. This, it believes, 'signifies Sweden's state of readiness for the next wave of major solar developments'. Debt financing will be provided by European financial services group SEB.

"We're proud that this will be Sweden's largest solar park at the time of commissioning, and the fact that this is the first time non-recourse project financing will be used to build a solar park in Sweden is also a great milestone that signifies a promising shift in the feasibility of renewable energy projects to come," said Alight CEO Harald Överholm.

The project is to be built in Hallstavik outside Norrtälje, as against the previously considered location in Skåne. Here, the partners plan to promote biodiversity by installing wood mold boxes, bat houses and sand beds for bees.

Construction is to start on site this week and the project will come online in Q2/2024. It will generate about 63 GWh annually when fully ramped up.

DIF Capital backed Alight partnered with renewable energy company RES to co-build 200 MW to 300 MW of large scale solar projects in Sweden in May 2022 (see RES And Alight Ink Partnership For PV In Sweden).