‘Unprecedented’ €1 Billion Financing For RE In Europe

Aquila Capital Raises €1 Billion Construction Facility For 2.6 GW Renewable Energy Capacity

‘Unprecedented’ €1 Billion Financing For RE In Europe

Having raised €1 billion for 2.6 GW renewable capacity in Spain and Portugal, Aquila will invest remaining €1 billion of total project value from its own funds. (Illustrative Photo; Photo Credit: thelamephotographer/Shutterstock.com)

  • Aquila Clean Energy EMEA has secured €1 billion construction facility for 2.6 GW renewable energy capacity
  • It is spread across various regions in Spain and Portugal in the form of more than 50 projects, mainly comprising solar PV and onshore wind
  • Supported by InvestEU program of the EU, the facility holds €400 million from the EIB and €600 million from other commercial lenders

The European clean energy development platform of German investment manager Aquila Capital has solar & onshore wind heavy renewable energy project volume of 2.6 GW in Spain and Portugal for which it has raised an ‘unprecedented’ €1 billion construction facility.

The portfolio comprising over 50 projects is spread across Castilla y León, Comunidad Valenciana, Andalucía, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia, in Spain, and Setúbal, Coimbra, Evora, Leiria, in Portugal. Aquila Clean Energy EMEA targets to bring this capacity online over the next 3 years, expecting it to generate close to 5.3 TWh annually.

Construction facility raised comprises €600 million from a consortium of commercial banks, and €400 million credit from the European Investment Bank (EIB), supported by the European Union’s (EU) investment program InvestEU.

BNP Paribas, ING, Intesa SanPaolo, Banco Sabadell, Santander, NatWest, and KfW IPEX-Bank also supported the facility. According to Aquila, the debt was significantly oversubscribed, confirming lenders’ strong interest in the financing.

Of the total project volume of over €2 billion, remaining amount of €1 billion comes from Aquila Capital’s own funds.

According to the European Commission (EC), the EU budget guarantee under InvestEU allows EIB to increase its risk-taking capacity. In this case, the bank will be able to assume electricity merchant risk under a non-recourse financing structure as the transaction does not involve any price hedge mechanism such as PPA’.

Around 91% of investments are expected to be located in the bank’s cohesion priority regions that will support their economic recovery post COVID-19.

“We are extremely pleased being able to secure this landmark financing in a market environment which is marked by high inflation, rising interest rates, supply chain issues and the war in the Ukraine,” said Aquila Clean Energy EMEA CEO Susanne Wermter. “This transaction constitutes the largest financing in the history of Aquila Clean Energy and Aquila Capital.”

About The Author

Anu Bhambhani

SENIOR NEWS EDITOR Anu is our solar news whirlwind. At TaiyangNews, she covers everything that is of importance in the world of solar power. In the past 9 years that she has been associated with TaiyangNews, she has covered over thousands of stories, and analysis pieces on markets, technology, financials, and more on a daily basis. She also hosts TaiyangNews Conferences and Webinars. Prior to joining TaiyangNews, Anu reported on sustainability, management, and education for leading print dailies in India. [email protected]

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