Renewable energy asset fund Alantra Solar has secured €355 million to support the development and construction of five solar PV projects in Italy.
The financing from Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo was agreed with N-Sun Energy, a solar development platform joint venture between Alantra and Spanish energy developer Solarig. It will support the development and construction of five solar PV and agrivoltaic (agriPV) projects across Southern Italy, with a combined nameplate capacity of around 275MW.
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The sites comprise the Ischia di Castro site in Lazio, Lecce and Minervino Murge projects in Puglia, and the Catania I and II sites in Sicily. Commercial operations at the sites are expected to begin by the end of 2027.
Alantra said the financing includes long-term loan facilities, a VAT facility, a debt service reserve line and guarantees related to power purchase agreements (PPA).
N-Sun Energy also secured a separate €50 million corporate financing facility with Bankinter.
Javier Mellado, managing partner at Alantra Solar said the financing “marks another milestone towards delivering N-Sun Energy’s 1.8GW portfolio and confirms the strong commitment of leading investors to our strategy.”
In February 2024, the company secured €50 million from Banca March to support its solar developments. N-Sun Energy was formed by Alantra and Solarig in 2023 to develop and bring online a 1.8GW solar portfolio in Italy and Spain. The platform is targeting €1.7 billion in investments.
The projects under the latest financing round include agriPV developments; Italy has been a leading market for agriPV , despite the complex development requirements for Italian projects. Last year, the Italian government moved to ban PV developments on agricultural land, as the agriculture minister decried the “wild installation of ground-mounted photovoltaics”. This move would have pushed developers towards more agriPV, though the ban was partially repealed in May.
