London, United Kingdom: Foresight Group Funds 10MW of Italian PV Projects

Foresight Group, an alternative asset manager focused on environmental infrastructure investments has signed two contracts for the construction of 10MWs of solar photovoltaic projects in Italy

The €50 million funding package for the construction includes an equity investment from Foresight’s European Solar Fund, alongside project finance facilities provided by two of the few banks actively lending in the current market.

4MWs of the 10MWs will be built through an engineer, procure, construct (‘EPC’) contract with Enerqos, a first-class Italian turnkey supplier of solar farms and BIPV systems. The project, which comprises four plants located in the Foggia and Lecce regions of Puglia, Southern Italy, includes three ‘fixed’ installations and one dual axis tracker, which allows for increased energy output.

In addition, a further six solar PV plants will be built, also in Puglia, Southern Italy and with a total capacity of 6MW, through an EPC contract with Ecoware SpA. Ecoware, part of Kerself Group, is a leading Italian solar PV contractor that has already manufactured and/or installed a number of solar PV plants in Italy. Of the six sites financed by Foresight’s investment, four will be ‘fixed’ installations while the remaining two will be dual axis tracker plants.

All of the PV plants will benefit from the 2009 Government backed conto energia feed in tariff, which is fixed for a 20 year period and is among the highest tariffs in Europe. These projects, together with other transactions in the pipeline in Italy and Spain, support Foresight’s strategy of becoming a leading solar infrastructure investor in Europe.

Giovanni Terranova, who joined Foresight’s Italian team in January, commented: “The solar infrastructure market is experiencing rapid growth and continues to attract strong interest from investors and operators. We have been able to partner with market leaders in the construction and operation of solar PV plants which is an endorsement of Foresight’s growing reputation as a major player in the solar infrastructure market in Italy. We believe that having ready access to substantial equity capital through our European Solar Fund and an experienced Italian team with a very strong banking network significantly strengthens our market position in the current financial climate. We expect to announce several more deals in the coming months.”

Further details about: Foresight Group