Greenalia S.A. engages Agere Energy & Infrastructure Partners as financial advisor for the 200 MW Eolo project portfolio and reaches the close of the first phase.
Greenalia has obtained a credit facility of €84 million to finance five wind farms with an installed capacity of 74.22 megawatts (MW), the company reported.
These wind farms are included within the Eolo project being developed by the group in Galicia and will be fully operational in 2020. Specifically, four of them are located in the province of A Coruña and one in Lugo.
The transaction has been structured under a project finance scheme with a senior tranche and a junior, mezzanine tranche. Banco Sabadell acts as agent and coordinator for the senior tranche, which amounts to €61 million. The subordinated tranche has been signed for an amount of €22 million.
In addition, the company indicated that VAT facilities amounting to €1 million and guarantee lines have been signed, as well as the remaining contracts and instruments required for this type of financing. The transaction involved Watson Farley & Williams as legal advisor and Agere Energy & Infrastructure Partners as financial advisor.
Greenalia stated that the transaction represents “a key milestone” for the fulfilment of its business plan, and in particular, for achieving the objectives set for this year.
Bilateral loan with Elecnor
In addition, as part of the capital structure, Greenalia has signed a bilateral loan with the EPC contractor (Elecnor), which will be involved in the Eolo project beyond the mere execution of the works.
The renewable energy group stated that it will initiate in the coming weeks the process to obtain a Green rating for this financing from the S&P agency.
Eolo projects
Greenalia is currently constructing the Miñón wind farm in the province of A Coruña and the Ourol wind farm in Lugo, with investments of €28 million and €26 million respectively. The remaining wind farms included under this financing are: Alto de Croa I (7 MW), Alto de Croa II (10.4 MW) and Monte Tourado (10.4 MW).
The Eolo project includes three additional wind farms whose financial close is scheduled for the last quarter of this year: Campelo (40.5 MW), Bustelo (45 MW) and Monte Toural (18 MW).
Furthermore, the company does not rule out incorporating additional projects with the aim of exceeding 200 MW of installed wind capacity by the end of 2020, which would imply, together with the 50 MW of electricity production from the Curtis-Teixeiro biomass plant, reaching an installed capacity of more than 250 MW by the end of next year and energy production in excess of 1 GWh/year.
Source: elperiodicodelaenergia.com
