Italian finance group Intesa Sanpaolo is to provde €33m of financing to support GreenGo’s construction of eight solar projects in Italy.
The financing is part of the banking group’s €8bn fund set aside for the transition towards a circular economy, furthering its commitment to supporting investments related to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
This scheme uses EU funding available to Italy combined with private funding to invest in renewable domestic energy infrastructure.
This will allow GreenGo to construct eight solar plants with total capacity of 41.8MW.
There will be four plants in Calabria (22.8MW), three in Sicily (13.7MW) and one in Marche (5.3MW).
The project contains a mixed commercial portfolio comprising corporate PPAs with Sasol Italia (47%), incentive tariffs from the GSE (17%), and a full merchant model (36%) for the sale of green electricity produced by the plants, which are currently under construction and expected to become operational in the first half of 2025.
The transaction was finalised by Intesa Sanpaolo’s Banca dei Territori division with the IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division, through the Corporate Finance Mid Cap structure.
The Circular Economy Desk of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, the Group’s company dedicated to innovation and promoting the circular economy model, also collaborated on the credit line which is part of the €8bn circular fund established by the group to support businesses in their energy transition.
GreenGo has an ambitious development plan projecting over €300m in investments by 2026 and expanding its capacity of solar, wind and storage plants by more than 350MW.
GreenGo estimates that building and managing these plants will create more than 500 jobs, as part of a renewable energy pipeline currently totalling over 1800MW at different stages of development, positioning the Bologna-based company among the “utility-scale” operators leading Italy’s energy transition.
GreenGo chief executive Giuseppe Mastropieri said: “This transaction marks the start of GreenGo’s new phase as an Independent Power Producer (IPP).
“After financing the first 42MW, we are now starting the construction of another 40MW of solar capacity to bolster our installed capacity ahead of 2025, a key year when our platform expects to achieve a minimum target of 250MW in additional authorised green projects.”