Spanish solar developer Eranovum, together with its international partners Noy Fund and Nofar Energy, has secured financing worth €132m from a German pension fund for its 238MW Sabinar solar project.
This is a significant amount of senior debt from a single institutional lender, partially dimensioned on the sale of energy to the market (merchant), with a loan life of more than 20 years, which will cover a significant portion of the project’s Capex, Eranovum said.
Located in the province of Cuenca, the Sabinar project has a capacity of 238MW and consists of two phases: Sabinar I, with 155MW, which is already operational; and Sabinar II, with 83MW, which is currently under construction.
Also in the province of Cuenca is the 169MW Olmedilla plant, which has been generating clean energy since July 2022. Sabinar and Olmedilla projects represent an investment of more than €350m.
In total, the projects have a capacity of more than 400MWp, which will supply energy to around 250,000 households and avoid the emission of 320,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.
In 2022, Eranovum, along with Noy Fund, an international infrastructure and energy investment fund, and Nofar Energy, a leading global renewable company, signed two long-term PPA with El Corte Inglés subsidiary Telecor, to cover approximately half of the group’s annual consumption.
The agreement, one of the largest of its kind in Spain and Europe, involves the long-term purchase of power from the Olmedilla and Sabinar photovoltaic plants.
José Luis Aguirre, co-founder and managing partner of Eranovum, said: “It is a great honour that a German institutional investor has placed its trust in the Sabinar project, one of the largest operational photovoltaic installations in Spain.
“We want to continue leading the energy transition with projects that have a direct impact on the decarbonisation of our energy mix.”
In this transaction, Eranovum, Noy Fund and Nofar Energy were advised by CaixaBank as exclusive financial advisor and Watson Farley & Williams as legal advisor.