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Luxembourg, 23/03/2021 – The Marguerite II Fund has agreed to sell back to Opdenergy its 80% interest in three solar parks in Spain with a total capacity of 150 MW
The Marguerite II Fund (“Marguerite II”) has agreed to sell its 80% interest in the three 50MW solar photovoltaic parks it acquired from Opdenergy, who retained the remaining 20% interest. The three solar parks were acquired by Marguerite II once they had reached the last stage of development and were ready-to-build. Project finance was successfully raised for the solar parks, which have been operational since the last quarter of 2019, and have recorded an aggregated production of c. 300Gwh during 2020.
The solar plant of La Fernandina is located in Mérida (Extremadura region) and has a total capacity of 50MW distributed throughout a land plot of 110ha. The Miramundo and Zafra solar plants also have each 50MW of total capacity and are located in the Andalucia region; the first one is distributed throughout 122ha in Puerto Real (Cádiz) and the second one throughout 130ha located in Alcalá de Guadaira (Sevilla).
The three solar parks were awarded capacity under the 2017 regulatory auction and therefore are benefitting from the regulatory scheme. However, each of the parks has also secured a 10-year bilateral PPA with Centrica to sell the electricity produced.
Since the end of 2019, the three parks have been producing enough renewable energy to supply around 78,000 homes with clean electricity. According to parameters estimated and released by the Spanish Office for Climate Change (Oficina Española de Cambio Climático – OECC), such production will contribute to avoid the annual emission of around 120,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. In addition, the construction of the plants resulted in the creation of new jobs. This is particularly significant in Andalucia, a region of Spain characterised by high unemployment rates. The plants will help assist in the development of local companies and communities as well as contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
William Pierson, Managing Partner at Marguerite, commented, “We are delighted to have supported the construction of low-subsidy renewable assets in Spain with highly competitive LCOE in selected locations with high irradiation levels. In partnership with Opdenergy, our involvement has contributed to support achievement of climate change targets and boosted the local economies, consistent with Marguerite’s sustainability strategy. This project successfully demonstrates our strategy of working alongside one of the leading solar PV developers and actively managing high quality infrastructure assets to deliver attractive returns to our investors”.