NextEnergy Capital acquires its first asset in Portugal – 17.4MWp solar PV project

London, October 26th, 2020 – NextPower III, NextEnergy Capital’s third institutional solar fund, is pleased to announce its first acquisition in Portugal.

  • Project was acquired from the developers Azimuth Molecule and Cardinal Flexivel
  • The plant benefits from a 10 year power purchase agreement, and planning to start construction in Q4/2020 and commissioning in Q3/2021
  • NextPower III’s capacity in operation and under construction, across 8 projects is now 335MWp in multiple geographies
  • NPIII has during the COVID 19 pandemic, successfully closed 4 transactions across different geographies. In total the fund has now closed 8 transactions.
  • NextPower III has 7 further projects under exclusivity with a total capacity of circa 450MWp.

NextPower III’s investment strategy is to acquire solar power plants at the ready-to-build status or in operations across high-growth OECD international markets. The investment team is currently focusing its efforts to increase the portfolios in its carefully selected geographies including the USA, Latin America and Europe, where NPIII have ongoing transactions, and expects to announce further acquisitions during the fourth quarter of 2020.

Filinto Martins, Managing Director and Head of NextPower III, commented:

“This acquisition allows NextPower III to further increase its presence globally and enter the European market in a country with high growth potential. NextPowerIII is already at an advanced stage of negotiations to execute further opportunities in Iberia by the end of the year. We see Iberia as a key geography for the fund and we have a defined growth strategy for Iberia”

 

Aldo Beolchini, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, commented:

“Portugal and many other countries worldwide are stepping-up their commitments to increase clean energy generation. Whether it is for reducing their carbon emissions, start-up the green hydrogen economy or to promote a green recovery from COVID pandemic, we are proud to be contributing to this global effort whilst opening new markets for NextEnergy. We are on track to build a target portfolio for our private fund NextPower III of around 2.5GW installed solar capacity internationally.”

 

About NextEnergy Capital (NEC)

NEC was founded in 2007 to become the leading investment and operating asset manager in the solar sector. Since its inception, it has been active in the development, construction and ownership of solar assets. It currently has solar assets under management of c.US$2.3bn, across three investment vehicles. To date, NEC has invested into over 200 individual solar plants for an installed capacity in excess of 1GWp.

NEC manages three investment vehicles: two private funds, NextPower III and NextPower II, and one listed investment company, NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited.

NextPower II is a private fund investing in operating solar power plants, focused on Italy. Its strategy is to consolidate the substantial, highly fragmented Italian solar market, and has commitments of €232 million, secured from Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G Prudential, a leading institutional investor with more than £500 billion of assets under management, and including Pantheon, an experienced investor in infrastructure, private equity and real assets with over US$42 billion in AUM. NextPower II currently owns 98 solar plants in Italy comprising c.140MWp and is among the ten largest solar asset owners in Italy.

NextEnergy Solar Fund is a listed solar infrastructure investment company focused on the UK and other OECD countries. It currently owns 755MWp spread among 90 individual assets in the UK and Italy, comprising a gross asset value of £991m. NESF has raised equity proceeds of c.£792m since its initial public offering on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in April 2014. At present, it is listed on the FTSE 250 index and is one of the largest listed solar energy funds in the world.

NextPower III is a private ESG infrastructure fund established to invest in the international solar sector, specifically to fund the construction and long-term ownership of solar power plants. NextPower III’s target markets comprise mainly OECD countries. It currently has commitments of c.US$280m, and a target size of US$750m. NPIII currently signed/owns eight solar plants, for a total installed capacity of 335MWp and has circa 450MW in exclusivity.

In addition, NEC is active in the operating asset management through WiseEnergy, the leading specialist operating asset manager in the solar sector. Since its founding, WiseEnergy has provided solar asset management, monitoring and technical due diligence services to over 1,500 utility-scale solar power plants with an installed capacity in excess of 1,700MWp and value of c.€4 billion. WiseEnergy’s clients comprise leading banks and equity financiers in the energy and infrastructure sector.

NextEnergy Capital is also active in the development phase of solar projects. It is progressing a very large pipeline of development projects in the UK totalling in excess of 2GWp and is developing a pipeline of 300MWp in Italy.

Further information on NEC, WiseEnergy and NESF is available at www.nextenergycapital.com, www.wise-energy.com and www.nextenergysolarfund.com.

 

For further information:

NextEnergy Capital Limited+44 203 746 0700

Michael Bonte-Friedheim

Aldo Beolchini