ECP 2.4 winners get 4.2GW

Independent oil and gas producer W&T Offshore (WTI) has closed the purchase of six fields in shallow waters in the Gulf of Mexico for US$72m offered by a consortium including MLCJR, Cox Oil Offshore, EPL Oil & Gas, and M21K. The company paid for the deal with cash on hand. The six fields acquired include Eugene Island 064, Main Pass 061, Mobile 904, Mobile 916, South Pass 049, and West Delta 073 with production that has ranged from about 3,700 to 5,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day. “Combined with our acquisition last fall, we have added...

Local IPP Auren Energy has brought online the first 100.6MW portion of the 629.9MW Sol de Jaiba solar farm in Minas Gerais. The project will require R$2bn (US$407m) overall. Full commercial operation is expected in Q1. Auren Energia emerged from the integration of assets of Brazilian investment holding company Votorantim and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).

Spanish independent power producer Grenergy Renovables has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for its massive 1GW/4.1GWh Oasis de Atacama solar and battery energy storage system project. The PPA is linked to the 260MW/1.1GWh fourth phase of the scheme and is with an investment-grade offtaker. Overall project costs across the five phases are US$1.4bn. The company is lining up a potentially US$1.25bn project finance deal via BNP Paribas, Natixis, Scotiabank, SMBC, and Societe Generale. Pricing is SOFR plus 220bp to 225bp and the loan...

State-run miner Codelco has printed a US$2bn bond deal across two tranches. The deal includes US$1.5bn of 12-year senior unsecured bonds priced at 99.942 with a 6.44% coupon to yield 6.447% and a US$500m 30-year senior secured tap of its 6.3% 2053 notes that sold at 94.306 with a 6.30% coupon to yield 6.746%. The joint bookrunners were Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan, and Banco Santander. Codelco’s production has slumped to its lowest level in 25 years due to operational problems and delays in its expansion projects, but the company expects...

Spanish renewables developer Grenergy has sold 77MW of wind assets in Cajamarca to Engie Energia Peru and 97MW of solar assets in Arequipa to Yinson Renewables for US$150m combined. Engie is paying US$60m plus a possible US$3m for the wind assets, split between an operational 30MW asset and two development projects totalling 40MW. Yinson Renewables paid US$90m and its deal includes the turnkey contract for construction. The deals are in line with plans announced by Grenergy at its capital markets day to sell 350MW–450MW of installed solar...

Qualitas Energy has agreed to acquire US-based developer Heelstone Renewable Energy which has a 20GW solar and storage portfolio comprising 179MW of operating assets, 175MW under construction, and the remainder at ready-to-build and in-development stages. Qualitas’ investment will support Heelstone’s growth from a renewables developer to an IPP. Qualitas is buying the North Carolina firm from Ares Management, re-entering the US market where it was previously active via Fotowatio Renewable Ventures. It is making the acquisition via its...

Belgian telecoms operator Proximus and EQT Infrastructure have exercised roughly 50% of the €700m accordion raised by their Fiberklaar fibre-to-the-home joint venture, a source said. Lenders taking part in the upsized capex facility included a combination of its existing lender group and “select new lenders”, the source said. French cooperative BRED Banque Populaire and MUFG are among the banks taking part, the latter as arranger. BRED Banque Populaire was on the original deal. Tenor of the accordion remains in line with the seven-year maturity...

Mitsubishi HC Capital has invested €700m in Danish independent power producer European Energy, acquiring a 20% stake. The capital injection has tripled European Energy's available equity, the company said. It is the first time an external partner has entered the ownership structure, CEO Knud Erik Andersen said in a statement. European Energy has built more than 2GW of wind and solar developments globally, with its activities focused in Scandinavia and the Baltics, as well as a presence across south-east and southern Europe and Brazil. Its...

Germany’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has put another 2.5GW of North Sea offshore wind capacity up for tender with a possibility of its negative bidding model to return. Bids are due by June 1 and the plants are expected to be in operation in 2031. The two areas are for 1.5GW and 1GW sizes around 120km northwest of Heligoland. Auctions for another 5.5GW will be launched before the end of March, the agency said. Bidders offering the lowest funding requirement will win, although if several bidders waive the subsidy and submit zero-cent bids...

Kao Data has secured a £206m loan from Deutsche Bank to fund its new contracted developments with customers in the UK and Europe across the cloud, AI and financial services and the build-out of its KLON-06 data centre in Slough. The deal can be extended up to £356m via an accordion. Deutsche is the mandated lead arranger and sole underwriter on the deal. The loan will refinance facilities provided by Downing LLP. Koa Data is owned by Infratil, which took a 40% stake in October 2021 for £120m–£130m, and Legal & General and Goldacre, part of Noe...

German renewable energy company RWE plans to participate in auctions for offshore wind projects in Japan. "We're actively developing further projects and also actively preparing for the upcoming auction rounds in Japan to participate again. ... We can't do the whole world and we felt that for us, Japan and South Korea are more attractive than India and Taiwan," Sven Utermohlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind, said, according to Reuters. The statement comes after it joined Mitsui, Murakami Tainai and Osaka Gas in a consortium that has been awarded a...

Fennel Green Power’s 3SUN solar panel aggravator in Sicily has syndicated its €560m debt package led by Uncredited to Bunco PM and PER Blanca with €140m tickets. Uncredited took €147.5m plus an €85m VAT loan. Of Uncredited's €147.5m, the FÉ has committed €118m of intermediate funding to improve the financing conditions for the borrower, as well as another €47.5m loan backed by Invest. Uncredited provided a full commitment at signing and this month syndicated the term loan debt to Bunco PM and PER Blanca with €140m tickets. The deal comprises...

Alantra and Solarig have raised €213m of debt finance from ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank and Rabobank to build the first 306MW of solar capacity as part of their planned 1.9GW platform. The package will finance construction of the first seven solar plants, which will be acquired by investment vehicle N-Sun Energy as they reach ready-to-build stage. An initial 16MW plant has already completed construction and been grid connected. N-Sun Energy is backed by Swiss infra asset manager Reichmuth Infrastructure and French asset manager Amundi...

The end of December brought a rush to close project financing for renewables projects. While Pattern Energy's mammoth US$11bn SunZia wind and transmission project in the western US received a great deal of attention, other smaller, but still sizeable, deals closed. Some of these were notable for financing project portfolios or newer types of renewable energy technology, such as fuel cells, and several utilised tax equity bridge loans. AES closed on a US$800.3m loan to fund three projects under construction with a total capacity of 855MW of...

Orsted has agreed to buy Eversource's 50% stake in the 924MW Sunrise Wind offshore wind farm giving it full ownership subject to a successful award of the project in the ongoing New York 4 solicitation tender process. If Sunrise Wind is not successful the existing OREC New York contract on the project will be cancelled and Orsted’s and Eversource’s 50/50 joint venture for the scheme will remain in place. If the scheme wins a contract it could be operational in 2026. Late last year Orsted wrote off US$2.4bn from the value of its US portfolio in...

Luxembourg-based Green for Growth Fund has raised €82.8m from development finance institutions through senior share investments. Dutch development fund FMO has provided €50m across €35m A shares and €15m B shares, and German DFI KfW has contributed €32.8m for Class A shares. Proceeds from the funding will be used to provide green loans to companies focusing on energy efficiency, security and infrastructure. GGF was established in 2009 as a joint initiative by the EIB and KfW alongside the European Commission, EBRD, Austrian Development Bank and...

The Invenergy and energyRe-backed Leading Light Wind team and the TotalEnergies and Corio Generation/Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board-backed Attentive Energy team have won the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities third round offshore wind solicitation tender with first-year bids of US$112.50/MWh and US$131/MWh. The tariffs escalate at 2.5% per year. Leading Light Wind is planning a 2.4GW project with 250MW of battery storage on its lease area in the New York Bite. The team includes Blackstone Infrastructure, CDPQ, Ullico Infrastructure Fund...

Miami-based infrastructure investment manager I Squared Capital has closed its first dedicated climate fund set up in conjunction with the US International Finance Development Corporation (DFC). DFC will commit US$300m alongside US$900m in commitments from funds led by I Squared Capital to invest in climate-related infrastructure projects. I Squared Capital funds have committed US$7.9bn to investments in emerging markets across sectors including energy, utilities, transportation, social infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and...

ATCO's Canadian Utilities unit has closed on a C$292m (US$216.5m) bond financing for the 202MW Forty Mile wind project in Alberta. The project was acquired from Suncor in 2022 after facing pandemic-related construction delays. CIBC led the offering, which included a C$108.1m tranche due 2033 and priced to yield 5.5%, a C$158.9m tranche due 2046 and priced to yield 6.2%, and a C$25m tranche due 2046 priced to yield 6%. The Forty Mile wind project has a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Microsoft for 150MW. The remainder of the power...

Patria Investments-backed Aguas Pacifico has closed a US$883m green project finance deal backing the 1,000l/s Aconcagua desalination plant and the 109km San Isidro Quilapilun water pipeline in the Valparaiso and Metropolitana regions. The deal includes a seven-year US$840m non-recourse syndicated term loan and a US$43m letter of credit. BNP Paribas, DNB, Natixis, and SMBC were lead arrangers with BCI, Mizuho, and Societe Generale arrangers on the deal. Paul Hastings represented the lenders, Milbank the sponsors. The deal includes hedging. “This...

Michael Peist, a managing director in project and structured finance in Investec’s New York power and infrastructure team, has left the bank. Peist joined the bank in 2022. He was previously managing director and head of infrastructure finance for ICBC in the US and managing director, projects and structured finance, at China Merchants Bank.

Independent power producer Inversiones Latin America Power has completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11. Earlier last year, ILAP missed a US$14m coupon payment on its project finance debt backing the combined 240MW San Juan and Norvind/Totoral wind farms and a pair of run-of-the-river hydro projects providing a combined 29MW. The prepackaged in-court restructuring reduces cash interest and includes a new financing package. As part of the plan, ILAP will look to sell the company. The plan had the support of holders of...

Luxembourg-based private equity firm Value4Capital is raising €100m of equity for its new fund V4C II to target green investments in Poland, Romania and other Eastern European EU countries. The World Bank's International Finance Corp is looking to provide €15m. The private equity company is owned by its three founding partners who established it in 2019: Bill Watson, Piotr Misztal and Jacek Pogonowski. V4C is part of Invest Europe, Polish Private Equity Association, Czech Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and the Emerging Markets...

Inpex is believed to have appointed Mizuho as its financial adviser for the development of the US$20bn Abadi LNG project in Indonesia. SMBC is understood to have been the former adviser but that mandate has lapsed as the project has been delayed for many years, due to changes in the design and also due to the Covid pandemic. Mizuho was Pertamina’s financial adviser in the recent US$3.1bn debt financing for its Balikpapan refinery. The project, also known as the Masela LNG project, involves the Abadi gas field development in the Masela block...

Lausitz Energie Kraftwerke (LEAG) has raised project financing to back its €300m Leipheim 300MW gas-fired power plant. Five German banks took part in the long-term financing, LEAG said. Leipheim began operating last summer and is one of four grid stabilisation plants in Germany. Siemens Energy built the plant and will operate and maintain it. Lenders were supported by law firm White & Case. LEAG aims to shift from using lignite to hydrogen, and plans to build hydrogen gas-fired plants. It is also looking to build hydrogen production, battery...

The Blue Circle, headquartered in Singapore, is partnering with Cambodia’s Royal Group to develop, finance, build, own and operate a 100MW onshore wind project in Cambodia. They have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the project in the eastern province of Mondulkiri, which is about 280km from Phnom Penh and has top wind sites in the country, The Blue Circle said in a statement. Royal Group operates a 400MW Lower Sesan 2 hydro power plant and plans to expand in renewable energy. It signed a power purchase agreement in March with...

Credit Agricole and Itau BBA have committed to a US$210m four-year completion bank guarantee facility backing the Atlas Renewable Energy, Hydro Rein, and Albras joint venture’s 438MW Boa Sorte solar project in Minas Gerais. The loan secures 100% of the principal amount and any capitalised interest during construction on the 21.4-year US$210m BNDES loan backing the project that closed in January last year, marking the lender’s first US dollar-indexed loan to a renewable energy project. Credit Agricole took a US$75m ticket and Itau BBA US$135m as...

UK infrastructure bank UKIB has provided a £200m bridge loan to backed construction of the 15.8GWh battery gigafactory in Sunderland being built by Chinese-Japanese joint venture company Envision AESC. HSBC is advising. Last summer, it was reported that both UK export credit agency UKEF and UKIB had been lined up to debt-finance the battery gigafactory project. The long-term project financing on the asset is due to be put in place this year. This is the first UKIB loan to the battery gigafactory sector. Construction started last year and should...

Syndication is ongoing for Iliad and InfraVia’s French fibre joint venture Investissement dans la Fibre des Territoires, according to two sources. Timing of the syndication is yet to be confirmed due to the large number of banks in the underwriter group, one source said. Iliad and InfraVia completed the €3.15bn refinancing in December, with the seven-year deal also providing capex to support expansion. Underwriters included Credit Agricole, ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, KfW, LBBW, Natixis, MUFG, Societe Generale and UniCredit. MLAs were CIC, Helaba,...

State digital development agency SPLANG has signed an agreement with the sponsors of the EllaLink subsea cable to connect to French Guiana via a 2,100km extension connection. The system will be built by Alcatel Submarine Networks. EllaLink first came online in 2020 and now connects Fortaleza in Brazil via Cabo Verde and Madeira to Sines in Portugal, with a branch to Morocco across some 5,900km.

Rachel More-Oshodi has been appointed chief executive of Lagos-based fund manager ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment taking over from Tariye Gbadegesin as she moves to Washington as CEO of Climate Investment Funds. More-Oshodi joins from TotalEnergies in Paris, where she was deputy vice-president for Africa commercial sales and specialities. She has previously been head of infrastructure finance at Rand Merchant Bank for its West Africa branch in Lagos and held several roles at the IFC and the Inter-American Development Bank. She also holds...

Virescent Ventures, a climate technology venture capital investor backed by the Australian government’s Clean Energy Finance Corp, has started raising a second fund targeting A$200m (US$132m). The Clean Energy Innovation Fund II would aim to catalyse private sector investment in Australian climate tech, focused on addressing global climate transition and decarbonisation challenges. Like its predecessor fund it has four key thematics: clean energy transition, food and agriculture, circular economy and industry and mobility and smart cities....

Cairo-based Hassan Allam Utilities is raising US$300m in equity to develop various renewable projects in Egypt and North Africa, including the US$1.5bn 1.1GW wind farm that ACWA Power and Hassan are working on in the Gulf of Suez. The EBRD is looking to provide an investment of up to US$75m towards the target. The consortium recently signed a 25-year land use agreement for the Suez project. ACWA and Hassan first signed an MoU in mid-2022. ACWA has an MoU with the New & Renewable Energy Authority to develop 10GW of wind in the country....

Tellurian could be looking at selling itself, according to a report on Bloomberg. The company has hired Lazard to "help us look at commercial opportunities as we seek equity partners for Driftwood LNG", a spokeswoman said. Tellurian has been changing the financing strategy of its Driftwood LNG scheme and has lost offtakers such as Gunvor, which terminated its contract in August. Last month former BG COO Martin Houston was appointed chairman replacing Charif Souki who remains on the board. Souki and Houston co-founded Tellerian in 2016 after...

Orsted is walking away from its current subsidy package on the 966MW Skipjack Wind 1 and 2 projects with the Maryland Public Service Commission but will reposition the project, which is "located in a strategically valuable federal lease area and with a state that is highly supportive of offshore wind, for future offtake opportunities". The company was awarded the 120MW Skipjack 1 scheme in 2017. Orsted said "the payment amounts for ORECs set forth in the orders are no longer commercially viable because of today's challenging market conditions...

Northeast state Ceara has inked a new memorandum of understanding in the hydrogen space, this time with BP. The MoU pertains to the construction of a green hydrogen and ammonia production facility at the Pecem port. This is Ceara’s 36th MoU in the hydrogen space as it aims to make the Pecem port one of the world’s biggest hubs for the fuel. Roseane Medeiros, Ceara’s secretary for international relations, said the government was already in talks with BP regarding the gas sector but now the company is firmly committed to producing green...

Looking at the National Grid ESO's TEC grid connection register in the UK is always a worthwhile exercise. One day you might find four 1GW projects to be supplied by 1,200km–1,500km cables transporting offshore power from Iceland to the UK – the joint venture scheme between US-based Hecate Wind and UK-based Independent Power Corporation (IPC) which has been a little quite of late. Or another day you might find the XLinks 3.6GW project to supply power to two 1.8GW grid connections – at Alverdiscott in Devon and Pembroke in Wales – via 3,800km...

Dominion Energy has received the final federal approvals from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and others for its 2.6GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind construction and operations plan. BOEM provided its final approval, which authorises construction offshore, while the Army Corps of Engineers issued its permit to allow for permitted impacts to US waters. CVOW will consist of 176 turbines and three offshore substations in a nearly 113,000-acre lease area off the coast of Virginia Beach. The project is the largest so far approved by...

McGuireWoods has rehired energy deal lawyer Jay Hughes as a partner in Houston from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he was a corporate partner and co-chair of its power and renewable energy practice. Hughes previously spent 16 years at McGuireWoods, including as managing partner of the Houston office from 2017 to 2020. He advises clients in M&A, financings and other transactions, representing public and private groups in the oil and gas and power and renewable sectors. His previous clients include utilities, developers, and private equity and...

Moody's has changed the outlook on the £339.2m Baa1 rated bonds backing the Gwynt y Mor offshore transmission owner (OFTO) scheme to negative due to a fault with one of its four cables reported on December 20 limiting its capacity to 75%. "The OFTO is undertaking tests and further investigations to determine the nature and causes of the fault, and assess potential repair options and costs," said Moody's. The Equitix/Balfour Beatty-owned OFTO has been affected by a number of cable failures over recent years. In 2020, a series of fibre optic...

Gisele Everett, senior managing director and head of OMERS Infrastructure Americas, has left the firm. She joined the Canadian institutional investor in 2019 and it is unclear where she will land next. OMERS last year tapped Michael Hill as executive vice-president and global head of infrastructure and he will take over Everett’s responsibilities for the Americas and continue to report to chief investment officer Ralph Berg. OMERS Infrastructure's team has more than 90 investment professionals around the world and a portfolio of 30 assets in...

Adani and TotalEnergies have launched a US$600m five-year refinancing for their LNG regas terminal in India reports LPC. MUFG and Standard Chartered Bank are the mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and underwriters of the non-recourse, amortising borrowing, which has an average life of 4.88 years. The two MLABUs have underwritten US$350m and US$250m, respectively. The interest margin for the first two years is 200bp over daily compounded SOFR, and will step up by 50bp semi-annually. The blended margin is 302bp over daily compounded SOFR. Banks...

A syndicate at Lloyd's led by French reinsurer SCOR and including UK-based insurer Howden is underwriting a new insurance facility to cover leakage of carbon emissions from commercial-scale carbon capture & storage facilities. The facility has been designed by Howden to cover for environmental damage and revenue loss caused by sudden or gradual carbon leakage from CCS projects into the air, land and water. The new facility covers liabilities arising from carbon credits and allowances, including UK and EU emissions trading system (ETS)...

Local firm Basic Energy Corp (BEC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese renewable energy (RE) firm Renova to jointly develop a 50MW Mabini wind project in the Batangas province. BEC secured the RE service contract for the project from the country’s Department of Energy (DOE) in 2021. It also has allocated Ps31m (US$0.56m) for pre-development works that include permits, licences, ancillary activities, and a resource assessment campaign. The wind project is targeted to commence operation in 2027.

The Energy Market Authority has awarded YTL PowerSeraya the right to build, own and operate a new hydrogen-ready combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) unit with a capacity of at least 600MW by the end of 2027. This comes after a request for proposal (RFP) was issued in July 2023 aimed to meet the future demand for power generation capacity. EMA said it received four proposals on October 31 2023 and selected one by YTL PowerSeraya. While the names of bidders were not disclosed, it is understood that all bidders are existing power gencos in Singapore...

KKR and Taeyoung Group are planning to sell their joint venture Ecorbit in a deal that could value the environment company at more than US$2bn, two people with knowledge of the matter said, reports Reuters. The firms have mandated Citigroup and UBS to manage the sale process, which is expected to begin in the next couple of months, said the people, who declined to be identified as the information is confidential. KKR, Citi and UBS declined to comment. Taeyoung Group and Ecorbit could not be reached for immediate comment outside business hours...

Sumitomo and Eneos have signed a joint development agreement with SEDC Energy, a unit of Sarawak Economic Development Corp, to produce green hydrogen for export to Japan under a project called H2ornbill project.. The SEDC-led initiative aims to establish a robust and environmentally sustainable clean hydrogen supply chain, according to the state-owned agency. The agreement outlines a comprehensive strategy to generate about 90,000 tonnes per year of clean hydrogen, with 2,000 tonnes allocated for local consumption in Sarawak and the remainder...

The UAE's Ministry of Investment and Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry (MITI) have signed a strategic partnership to develop 500MW of data centres in Malaysia. The MoU was signed by the UAE’s minister of Investment Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi and Malaysia’s MITI minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

A consortium comprising IJM Corp, Berjaya Land, Malaysian Resources Corp and Keretapi Tanah Melayu will bid for the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore high-speed rail (KL-SG HSR) project, according to The Edge, citing sources. Berjaya Land is joining through its 70% subsidiary Berjaya Rail and IJM Corp through its unit IJM Construction. Other technical members of the consortium include Japan’s Hitachi Rail STS, which specialises in signalling systems, South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem, which manufactures rolling stock, and German rail operator Deutsche Bahn’s DB...

The South Korean government has rejected all offshore wind projects that were proposed by a unit of Kredo Holdings, a subsidiary of global investment firm BlackRock, according to local reports citing officials. The decision was made due to lack of data to “prove its financial ability and power system issues in the region”, the officials said. Subsidiary Korea Renewable Energy Development and Operation Offshore proposed five Sinan wind projects in South Jeolla province with a potential capacity for 2GW and an estimated cost of W10trn (US$7.5bn)...

The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources plans to auction 10 oil and gas working areas this year, according to oil and gas director general Tutuka Ariadji. He said the ministry is mapping other potential areas to offer as well, including in the Northern Madura and Andaman areas. “We are collaborating with the exploration team working for SKK Migas. Some areas are promising. There are two large ones,” he was quoted as saying in local media.

Indonesia's National Energy Council has proposed reducing the target ratio to 17%–19% for renewable energy in its national energy mix by 2025 from 23%. Energy & Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif told reporters that renewable energy development had been “painstakingly slow” and this was partly due to dominant coal-fired power plants. "We have to be realistic. We will adhere to the commitment we made, but we have to work towards it with what we have," he was quoted as saying. Renewables made up 13% of the energy mix last year, below the...

The Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism have launched guidelines for Round 3 of the public tender for two sites for offshore wind schemes under the Renewable Energy Sea Area Utilisation Act. The first is in the southern Sea of ​​Japan off the coast of Aomori prefecture near Tsugaru city and the town of Ajigasawa. The second is off the coast of Yuza in Yamagata prefecture. A minimum 1.05GW is being sought split into 600MW for the southern Sea of Japan site and 450MW for the Yuza site....

Macquarie has secured a NT$5,272m (US$170m) loan facility to refinance the existing debt raised for three wind farms it has acquired in Taiwan. The loans are split into a nine-year NT$1,882m Tranche 1; a nine-year NT$1,640m Tranche 2, and a 14-year NT$1,750m Tranche 3. Tranches 1 and 2 mature on June 30 2032, and Tranche 3 on June 30 2037. The assets are the Luwei, Chungwei, and Anwei wind farms, which have a combined capacity of about 190MW. Lenders are Credit Agricole CAB, CTBC, Taipei Fubon, and SMBC. Financial close was achieved in December...

New York State has received bids from three offshore wind projects across six proposals in its expedited fourth solicitation that gave sponsors a chance to rebid projects at higher prices following the cancellation of old contracts. Norway’s Equinor submitted the 810MW Empire Wind I project shortly after agreeing to take full ownership of the scheme from former joint venture partner BP. BP took full ownership of the JV’s Beacon Wind project off New York in return. Orsted and Eversource’s 924MW Sunrise Wind was also submitted and Orsted will...

BP and Equinor have reached an agreement to restructure the ownership of their joint US offshore wind projects, which will result in BP taking 100% ownership of the Beacon Wind 1 and 2 projects and Equinor taking 100% ownership of the Empire Wind 1 and 2 projects. BP will take ownership of Equinor’s 50% interest in the Astoria Gateway for Renewable Energy (AGRE) site, while Equinor will take ownership of BP’s 50% interest in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT). The pair have also agreed with the New York State Energy Research and...

China Hydropower (Malaysia), a unit of PowerChina International, has signed a M$1.88bn (US$400m) agreement with Semarak Renewable Energy to develop Malaysia's first large-scale green hydrogen production plant. The project, in Perak, involves the design, procurement and construction of floating photovoltaics, hydrogen production units, and hydrogen storage units. The general contracting agreement was signed between Semarak RE chairman Mohammad Shahil and PowerChina's Asia-Pacific regional assistant general manager and deputy general manager Ye...

State-run Companhia de Saneamento do Parana (Sanepar) has closed a R$600m (US$121.8m) blue bond sale backing its project portfolio build-out, including expansion of the water treatment and distribution systems and sewage collection and treatment. Banco BV led the deal, with XP an arranger. Moody’s rated the deal AAA.br. Some 46.75% of the deal will be allocated to water supply systems and 53.25% to sewage projects. Sanepar supplies 100% of the urban population in Parana with treated water and has a rate of 80.2% in sewage collection and...

The Yapay consortium has signed the concession contracts with private investment promotion agency ProInversion and the Ministry of Energy & Mines (Minem) for the 500kV Huanuco-Tocache-Celendin-Trujillo and 500kV Celendin-Piura transmission public-private partnership projects. Yapay, formed by Interconexion Electrica (ISA) and Dunas Energia, won the mandate by bidding US$800m in project costs with an annual cost for operation and maintenance of US$8.1m. Yapay recently signed a US$40m credit agreement with another ISA affiliate Red de Energia del...

Brazil’s government led by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has launched a plan to stimulate local industry via the R$300bn (US$61bn) New Industry Brazil programme. The programme will provide for R$300bn in financing and subsidies for the sector through 2026, led by BNDES mobilising R$250bn. Another R$20bn will come from Finep. Nova Industria Brasil, as it is known in Portuguese, is focused on six areas: agro-industrial chains; health; well-being of people in cities; digital transformation; bioeconomy, decarbonisation, and energy transition and...

State-backed Metro de Santiago, through Empresa de Transporte de Pasajeros Metro, has sold US$144m in bonds across two series backing refinancing of debt and expansion works on the network. It is the company’s first local bond issue in seven years. The notes came across a five-year UF1.5m (US$60m) Series P tranche priced at 3.99% and a 30-year UF2m Series O tranche priced at 3.6%. BCI Corredor de Bolsa and Scotia Corredora de Bolsa Chile ran the deal, which was rated AA+ (Humphreys) and AA+ (ICR).

Local power company Energisa has launched a potentially R$2.5bn (US$501m) follow-on share offering to strengthen its capital structure. The company tapped Itau BBA, Bank of America, Bradesco BBI, BTG Pactual, Citi, JP Morgan, Santander, and Scotiabank to manage the offering. Energisa will issue 78.3m new common shares and 121.97m preferred shares to raise R$2bn, which could be increased by 25% depending on demand. Pricing was expected on January 29. The company currently trades at around R$50.

Energy company Oryx Midstream is looking to close a US$1.837bn senior secured term loan B to reprice an existing first-lien term loan and amend the existing cashflow sweep. The loan is offered at 300bp over SOFR plus the ARRC-recommended CSA. The existing loan pays 325bp over SOFR plus the ARRC-recommended CSA. The original issue discount is guided at 99.75 cents on the dollar. It has a 0.5% floor and matures on October 5 2028, in line with the existing loan. The loan has 101 soft call protection for six months. It requires mandatory...

The Ministry of Transport & Communications and private investment promotion agency ProInversion have revised project costs to US$3.4bn from US$2.38bn for the co-financed private initiative public-private partnership highway project connecting the capital Lima to Callao. The scheme was presented by the Peripheral Ring Road Consortium led by Cintra and featuring Acciona and Sacyr. It was declared of interest by regulators in December. The new investment amount has emerged from further structuring and includes the design, financing, construction...

Khazanah Nasional subsidiary UEM Group is collaborating with solar and wind project developer Hexa Renewables on a 500MW hybrid-floating solar plant, the first phase of a flagship 1GW hybrid solar photovoltaic energy transition project. UEM Group’s green industry arm, UEM Lestra, has signed a shareholder agreement with Hexa Renewables Malaysia to form a joint venture, Lestra Hexa JV, on a 51:49 ratio. The JV has also agreed a technical partnership with Itramas, which is expected to provide technical services to an engineering, procurement,...

The Ministry of Natural Resources has opened a request for proposals for companies to design, finance, construct, and operate gas infrastructure projects to support upstream investments in Guyana. The projects will be financed and operated by the private sector, with the successful company landing exclusive negotiation rights with the government for its entitlement to the gas. Proposals are due February 27. Responses will include project costs and capital structures. “The Government of Guyana is seeking the safe and timely development of its...

Guyana’s government is evaluating five proposals to construct the Berbice Oil Refinery in Region Six, with an award expected by the end of Q1. Project costs are US$1bn. The government received nine proposals following the launching of requests for proposals (RFPs) in 2022, which has been whittled down to the five now under review. The refinery to be built on Crab Island will have a 30,000bpd capacity. “Following this, the top-ranked contender will undertake an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment at Crab Island for a facility designed...

Brazil’s Patria Investments and Colombia’s Grupo Colpatria through Concesionaria Ruta al Sur have closed a Ps2.8trn (US$707m) project finance deal backing the 456km Santana-Mocoa-Neiva or Ruta al Sur highway public-private partnership project. The financing came across a Ps1.65trn local currency tranche through Bancolombia, Itau, and IDB Invest and a US$275m dollar tranche through Santander, MUFG, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, ING, and Siemens. Moody’s accredited the financing as a social deal. IDB Invest said it took a Ps601.3bn ticket in the...

AMEA Power has signed early stage agreements to develop more than 1.5GW of clean energy projects across nine African countries. AMEA's planned projects include a 200MW hybrid wind and solar scheme in Mauritania and a green hydrogen project of up to 1GW, and a US$150m 125MW solar project in Mozambique to be developed in partnership with local company Hidropower with backing from Mozambique's national investment bank. The UAE-based developer signed a memorandum to expand its 70MW PV scheme in Togo to 100MW and to install a 14MWh battery storage...

A joint venture of Casa dos Ventos and ArcelorMittal has closed a R$3.16bn (US$640m) project finance deal via state-run development bank BNDES backing the 553.5MW Babilonia Centro wind farm in Bahia. The credit was granted to Ventos de Santos Antonio Comercializadora de Energia and covers 80% of the overall project costs. It is BNDES’s largest ever loan for a renewable energy project. The scheme will supply approximately 40% of ArcelorMittal’s electricity needs in the country. Casa holds 45% of the project, with ArcelorMittal holding the...

Connecticut-based energy as a service (EaaS) company Budderfly secured a US$400m senior debt facility originated by Vantage Infrastructure and co-led by the energy infrastructure credit team at Nuveen. Vantage and Nuveen each committed US$200m to Budderfly at close, along with an option that provides Budderfly access to an additional US$200m in financing. The financing will support Budderfly’s next stage of growth and help accelerate clean energy technology adoption across the mid-market, comprising small- and mid-sized commercial and...

Moldova's Energy Ministry is preparing tenders for the construction of 165MW of renewable capacity between April and July. It plans to launch an auction on April 9 and accept bid submissions for at least three months. The tender will aim to award long-term fixed-price contracts to developers. The capacity tendered comprises a targeted 105MW of wind and 60MW of solar. "Several documents are to be approved for the launch of tenders for the construction of large renewable energy capacities," the ministry said. There will be some regulatory...

Nick O'Donohoe is stepping down as chief executive at UK development finance institution British International Investment in mid-2024 after seven years as CEO. The board, led by chair Diana Layfield, is leading the process to find a successor. O'Donohoe spent over a year as senior adviser for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, nearly five years as CEO of Big Society Capital, 15 years as global head of research at JP Morgan and 15 years as executive director at Goldman Sachs. He joined BII in June 2017 when the DFI still operated under its CDC...

Australian uranium mining company Paladin Energy has signed a US$150m loan that will provide capital flexibility to recommence operations at a mine in Namibia and make progress at another one in Canada, LPC reports. The senior secured debt facility is split into a US$100m five-year amortising term loan and a US$50m three-year revolving credit facility, with the latter comprising two options to extend by 12 months each, according to Paladin’s filing to the Australian Securities Exchange on Thursday. Repayments of the amortising portion take...

Austrian IPP and investor Renalfa Solarpro has secured a €40m loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the expansion of its EV charging station subsidiary Eldrive in Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania. The debt will support Eldrive's €146m planned investment to deploy over 4,000 EV charging stations in Romania, 2,575 in Lithuania and 1,530 in Bulgaria. Eldrive is part of Renalfa SolarPro and its key investor pool comprises Bulgarian investors led by CEO Stefan Spassov.

A consortium led by General Atlantic-backed fund manager Actis has acquired the tower sites of state-controlled Telekom Srbija, which operates macro towers in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Actis placed a successful bid to acquire the tower business from TS in November and has raised debt and equity for the acquisition. The IFC committed US$75m of equity alongside private and institutional investors towards the total financing, the size of which is undisclosed. BNP Paribas was sole financial adviser while White & Case, CMS...

South African independent power producer SOLA Group has signed corporate power purchase agreements with private offtakers for a R2.8bn (US$147.5m) 195MW PV plant in Free State, the first in the country to have its revenue stream structured around multi-buyer corporate offtakes. SOLA said it has signed three long-term CPPAs with "multinational anchor offtakers" for a portion of capacity and has kept the rest open to signing short-term PPAs. Electricity from the project will be wheeled to buyers through national grid operator Eskom....

PFO Energies, owned by Abidjan-based construction firm PFO Africa, has signed a 25-year public-private partnership and offtake agreement with the Ivorian government to design, finance, construct, operate and transfer a 52MW solar scheme in Ferkessedougou. The scheme is expected to cost €60m, PFO's financial adviser Finergreen said. Development is expected to start in H2 and the plant is due to be commissioned in late 2025. The project will be the largest solar power plant to be built by a local IPP. PFO Africa was founded over 50 years ago by...

Romania's grid operator Transelectrica has issued more than 1GW in grid connection permits for wind energy projects since November. Prague-based developer Rezolv Energy, backed by Actis, and UK-based Low Carbon, has secured a grid permit for its 600MW Dunarea wind scheme, including Dunarea East and Dunarea West. Romanian developer Monsson, owned by owned by Swedish-Romanian businessman Emanuel Muntmark, scored grid permits for a portfolio of three wind projects with a combined capacity of more than 300MW, two 110MW schemes and a 105MW project...

Dubai-based Alpha MBM has been selected as the latest preferred bidder to build Uganda's US$4.5bn 60,000 barrels-a-day public-private partnership oil refinery project. Alpha MBM is part of MBM Investments, owned by the Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum. Alpha MBM will own 60% of the project and the government will retain 40%. Talks have started with public and private financiers to back construction of the scheme, according to energy minister Rith Nankabirwa. The project is an old initiative that has been tendered...

Serbia's Energy Ministry has started talks with Hyundai on the 1GW solar plus 200MW/400MWh battery developments awarded to Hyundai and UGT Renewables in November through competitive bidding. The mega solar plan will be split across up to six projects in Serbia's eastern and southern parts, according to a ministerial announcement. The schemes will be designed, built and financed by the Hyundai/UGT consortium and will be transferred to Serbia's national energy regulator Elektropriveda Srbije once commissioned. The projects are expected to come...

Tel Aviv-listed developer Nofar Energy is raising debt to finance construction of its 169MW Iepuresti and 146MW Ghimpati solar projects in Romania. The total debt has not been disclosed, though the EBRD is considering lending a €55m senior tranche. Solar panels will be supplied by Chinese producer LONGi through a supply agreement to cover 576MW of new developments in Romania for €76.6m at delivery duty-paid terms.The project financing is expected to benefit partially from a first-loss guarantee provided by the European Union under the...

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has expressed interest in financing a 629MW reversible hydropower plant in Serbia that is expected to cost over €1bn, it emerged at a meeting in Belgrade between Serbian energy minister Dubravka Djedovic and Japanese ambassador Akira Imamura. The Bistrica RHP scheme has been in planning since 2022 by Serbian national utility EPS and it is planned for construction in the Uvac and Lim river basins in western Serbia.

Tel Aviv-listed telecommunications company Bezeq and developer PowerGen, owned by Tel Aviv-listed investment fund Generation Capital are going to establish a 50:50 joint venture to trade energy for private offtake only. PowerGen will supply energy from both its renewable schemes with integrated storage and its gas-fuelled power plants. "The formation of the supply venture with Bezeq is part of the implementation of Generation Capital’s strategic plan to become a market leader in power supply to a variety of customers on the basis of power from...

Polish independent power producer RPower has closed a Z106.2m (US$26.5m) 15-year project financing deal with BNP Paribas Polska for a 32.7MW solar portfolio. The loan will bear interest on market terms, RPower said. The projects have 15-year fixed-price power purchase agreements with the Polish energy regulator, which were awarded to RPower in the 2021 renewable energy auction. RPower is listed in Warsaw and operates 500MW of PV capacity in Poland. It has assets in Romania, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal and plans to install 1GW of solar...

Albanian national power corporation KESH is seeking a financial consultant for Bechtel's €350m 210MW Skavica hydropower project. KESH and Bechtel agreed terms for development and started construction in 2021. The financial consultant will sign a €450,000 six-month contract with KESH. Hydro accounts for more than 95% of Albania's renewable energy.

The IFC has confirmed itself as the lead transaction adviser to Iraq's government for the planned launch of a public-private partnership tender to improve Baghdad International Airport. The government and IFC are preparing to launch a competitive international tender to engage the private sector to design, rehabilitate, finance, operate maintain, and potentially expand the airport on a PPP basis. The IFC has worked on a number of airport PPPs in the Middle East, including Queen Alia Airport in Jordan and Madinah Airport in Saudi Arabia. Baghdad...

Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power is seeking project financing for a US$95.4m pilot integrated renewable hydrogen facility it plans to build in Uzbekistan. The EBRD is considering lending up to US$58.2m on a project finance basis plus a US$5.5m equity bridge loan for the 20MW electrolyser scheme and the new 52MW wind power plant that would power it. The wind scheme will be co-located with ACWA's existing 500MW Bash wind scheme in the Gijduvon district, Bukhara region, which has also been co-financed by the EBRD in the past. The electrolyser will be...

Funds managed by Schroders Greencoat and Tokyo Century are expected to quickly replace short-term acquisition debt with term debt for their stake in the £700m purchase of the 513.5MW Toucan Energy Holdings 1 solar portfolio. They will own just over the half of the asset. Six local government pension schemes – Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire funds via Schroders Greencoat Wessex Gardens – have bought a significant portion with equity. The portfolio was developed between 2014 and 2017 and is backed by 20-year feed...

Local IPP Faria Renewables, backed by Omnes Capital, has secured gird connection permits from the Greek electricity regulator for 17 projects across wind and solar with a combined 650MW capacity. The projects will have co-located energy storage systems and comprise 12 wind projects totalling 485.7MW and five solar schemes with 164.25MW. The two largest wind projects will have 81MW of capacity each, followed by two schemes of 54MW each, a 45MW project, a 36MW scheme, a 31.5MW project, four schemes of around 20MW each and a 9MW project. The solar...

Polish independent power producer RPower secured grid connection in Q4 for 650MW/2GWh of battery projects in Poland. The projects are expected to commence operations in 2026, according to the company. None of the projects were awarded capacity market contracts in Poland's latest auction and the expected revenues for the projects have not been specified. RPower is listed in Warsaw and operates 500MW of PV capacity in Poland, It has assets in Romania, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. It plans to install 1GW of solar power and add battery...

Partners Group and OPTrust have closed the refinancing of the 240MW Ararat wind farm in Victoria. DBS, ING and Westpac provided a three-year term loan of A$137m (US$90m), while a bank guarantee and debt service reserve facility brought total debt to roughly A$212m. Clean Energy Finance Corp, SMBC and Export Development Canada had in 2015 provided the wind farm's A$276m original project finance facility and it started generating to the grid in April 2017. ABN AMRO Bank, ANZ, DBS, ING and Export Development Canada had refinanced the asset in 2019...

John Laing has closed a A$120m (US$79m) four year refinancing of the 175MW Finley solar farm in New South Wales with ANZ and Westpac as lenders. The deal includes a A$112m amortising term loan and small guarantee and debt service reserve facilities. White & Case was the sponsor’s legal adviser and Herbert Smith Freehills advised the lenders. Westpac and ANZ had project financed Finley Solar in November 2018 with a A$178m five-year loan. BlueScope Steel in 2018 signed a seven-year corporate PPA for two-thirds of the output from Finley Solar....

Origin Energy has committed to invest A$400m (US$264m) on developing a 300MW/650MWh battery at the Mortlake peaking power station in Victoria. Fluence has signed a contract to supply the battery. Civil works are expected to commence in coming months. Commissioning is expected in late 2026. Origin’s chief executive Frank Calabria said: “Origin’s strategy is to accelerate renewable energy and storage in our portfolio and we expect large-scale batteries and other storage technologies to play a vital role in Australia’s energy transition. Today’s...

REC and the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) have signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration on funding for renewable energy and large-scale infrastructure projects in India. NIIF chief strategy officer Shri Prasad Gadkari said: “Through this partnership we aim to develop innovative financing solutions supporting major infrastructure.” NIIF is a Government of India-backed fund manager with four funds and around US$5bn under management. The four funds are the Master Fund, the Fund of Funds, Strategic Opportunities...