Octopus Energy has refinanced £484m worth of debt attached to dozens of solar projects across England and Wales, in what it claims is the largest ever solar PV refinancing deal in Europe.
Provided by six banks, the new medium-tenure senior secured debt replaces a £400m bridge facility.
It is secured against 74 ground-mounted solar PV plants with a combined generation capacity of 522MW. All the projects earn government-backed revenues from the UK’s Renewables Obligation scheme.
The financing was based around a flexible rolling power offtake strategy, rather than long-term PPA contracts that are typically associated with such loans, Octopus said.
The six lenders are Banca IMI, Barclays, BNP Paribas, La Caixa, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander.
Meanwhile, a consortium led by ACWA Power and TSK has selected Spanish outfit GreenPowerMonitor to provide monitoring duties at the 200MW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park in Dubia.
The project, which will be the biggest solar plant in the Middle East, is expected to begin operations later this year.
Image: SXC
