260MW of Solar Assets Energised in Europe
NextEnergy Capital, a global renewables manager specialised on the solar+ infrastructure sector, is delighted to announce that its third fund, NextPower III ESG, has energised two further utility-scale solar assets for a total of 260MW across Spain and Portugal. This takes its Iberian exposure to 356MW in operation with an additional 110MW in construction. NPIII ESG successfully completed its investment period last year and has committed all of its raised capital.
The newly energised assets consist of a 210MW solar project located in Santarém, Portugal, known as Santarém, and a 50MW solar asset located in Cadiz, Spain, known as Agenor. The combined assets will produce an estimated annual production of 445GWh, the equivalent of powering an estimated 126,700 homes' annual electricity consumption needs.
Both Santarém and Agenor benefit from long-term contracted revenues through Power Purchase Agreements (“PPAs”) with Statkraft, a high-quality corporate off-taker in Europe’s energy market. The PPA covering Santarém is notable, being the largest PPA in the history of Portugal to date, showing the continued demand for high-quality corporate PPAs across the European market.
NPIII ESG is a private fund exclusively focused on the international solar infrastructure sector, principally targeting projects in carefully selected OECD countries, including the US, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Greece, and Italy. NPIII ESG has 173 solar and storage assets, totalling 1.8GW. NPIII ESG completed its fundraise in 2022 with a total of $896m, including an SMA raised. The target of the fund was $750m.
Michael Bonte-Friedheim, CEO and Founding Partner of NextEnergy Group, said:
“I continue to be delighted by the progress of the NextPower III ESG portfolio, having fully committed the entirety of its capital ahead of its investment period expiry in late 2023. The portfolio continues to demonstrate our execution capabilities with the energisation of both Agenor and Santarem, adding 260MW of solar capacity in Iberia, one of the fund's key target markets. NextEnergy Capital remains committed to driving the transition to clean energy and continues to add significant value to investors as the leading solar specialist investment manager in the renewables sector. We look forward to continuing this momentum with future capacity coming online across all of NextEnergy’s funds.”
Antonio Salvati, Managing Director of NextPower III & NextPower V, commented:
“The energisation of Agenor and Santarém add significant operational capacity to NextPower III ESG and showcase how the team are continuously deploying capital, energising sites, and adding generation capacity across its OECD target geographies. We are particularly pleased with our progress in an increasingly complex supply chain and construction environment.”
