Independent power producer (IPP) Econergy and Rivage Investment have agreed to £128 million (€150 million) in debt financing to progress their pipeline of European PV, wind, and storage projects.
The funding aims to support ongoing development and construction in Econergy’s primary target renewable energy markets of Italy, Poland, the UK, and Romania.
Rivage Investment, an independent asset management firm for sustainable infrastructure, has agreed that two-thirds of the loan will be available from the financial closing date for up to 24 months.
The final third will be allocated starting on June 30, 2024, and until the end of 24 months from the financial closing.
The investment comes as Econergy has also bought out UBS’s share of its joint-developed Italian renewable projects. This means that, once fully operational, Econergy will take full ownership of approximately 440MW worth of projects.
The debt financing was made possible through Marathon Capital as exclusive financial advisor to Econergy, Ashurst as legal advisor to Rivage Investment, and Squire Patton Boggs as legal advisor to Econergy.
RGreen Invest made another, £213 million (€250 million) investment into Econergy’s operations in November 2022. Econergy said that its pipeline currently consists of around 8.5GW of projects, 600MW of which is expected to go live in 2024.
In regards to generating projects, Econergy announced the onset of commercial operations at its 155MW solar project in Romania called the Ratesti PV Plant in November 2023, which then began supplying electricity to the grid in the following weeks.
The energy supplier said this project was made possible through £51 million (€60 million) financing from Raiffeisen Bank International and Raiffeisen Romania.
Eyal Podhorzer, co-founder and CEO of Econergy, said: “2024 will be a big year for us as we continue to grow and transform the company, and I am delighted that we are beginning it with such significant momentum. I am excited and grateful that Rivage is embarking on this partnership with us, driving forward our shared clean energy ambitions across Europe.
“In the coming weeks, we are expected to connect our 92 MW PARAU PV project in Romania, which will join the 155MW Ratesti PV plant in generating much-needed low carbon power for the country.”
