Glennmont Partners Launches New Solar IPP

• Glennmont Partners has established a new company called BNZ to install 1 GW of PV capacity in Southern Europe
• It will develop, build, and operate this capacity in Portugal, Spain and Italy by 2024
• Initial capacity of 350 MW is at an advanced stages of development as it has acquired requisite approvals to build the same

Clean energy fund manager Glennmont Partners has launched a new independent power producer (IPP) for solar energy in Europe with a mandate to install 1 GW of solar PV capacity in the 3 markets of Italy, Portugal and Spain by 2024.

Of the target installed capacity, the IPP called BNZ has an initial 350 MW in advanced development stage through Glennmont Partners and has obtained requisite permits to build its 1^st solar plants in Southern Europe.

Barcelona, Spain headquartered BNZ will develop, build and operate solar power projects here as part of Glennmont Partners' Clean Energy Fund III portfolio that closed with €850 million raised in June 2019, overachieving the €600 million target (see Glennmont Raises €850Mn For Clean Energy Fund III). While its primary and initial focus is solar PV generation, the company may later expand into other technologies as battery storage and hydrogen, it added.

Glennmont Partners, now operating as part of global asset manager Nuveen, said BNZ is a business venture tailored to the demands of its investors that also has a potential for stable yields and predictable returns on investments.

While Spain is one of the star markets for solar energy in Europe, Portugal too holds potential with the Iberian Peninsula attracting solar power companies and its renewable energy auctions a hit with investors (see Portugal Officially Confirms World's Lowest Solar Bid).

Having earned a bad name for its bureaucratic permitting challenges for renewable energy, Italy is now working to resolve the same. IHS Markit expects the Italian solar market to reach the 1 GW level in 2021 (see IHS Markit Forecasts 1 GW PV For Italy In 2021).