Czechia-headquartered building manager CTP has secured a €200 million (US$214 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support its deployment of solar modules across its portfolio of business parks.
CTP owns and operates around 11 million square metres of warehouse and industrial space across ten European countries, and plans to use the EIB funding to expand the capacity of solar power installations at these facilities. The company installed its first solar panels at its sites in Hungary in January 2022, and by the end of that year, solar panels installed at its buildings had a power capacity of 38MWp.
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While the company did not announce which solar modules it would use across its portfolio, or where the first of this round of solar projects would be built, the loan will make a significant contribution to realising CTP’s long-term clean energy goals. CTP plans to add an additional 100MWp of solar capacity this year, and is aiming to expand its total solar capacity to 400MWp by the end of 2026.
“The backing of the EIB is testament to the robust business strategy we have in place to deliver on the large-scale installation of solar PV across our portfolio, and allows us to obtain long-term unsecured financing at attractive conditions with all in cost of 4.5%,” said Richard Wilkinson, group chief financial officer at CTP.
“Sustainable financing is the way forward, and we are proud to add the EIB as a new financial partner in this.”
The funding is part of the EIB’s contribution to its REPowerEU programme, an ambitious plan to invest €45 billion into clean energy projects between July this year and 2027. Europe has considerable ambitions for its solar sector, with trade body SolarPower Europe reporting that, based on the renewable targets published by individual countries, the continent is aiming to have installed 425GW of solar capacity by the end of the decade, up from 208GW installed currently.
However, there are concerns about Europe’s ability to reach these targets, with SolarPower Europe calling for protection from collapsing solar power prices for European manufacturers last week.