SOLAR INVESTMENTS - FROM FUNDINGS TO PARTNERSHIPS & ACQUISITIONS: WEEK 5

This is a weekly newsletter to keep you updated on the latest developments in solar investments, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, public offerings within the solar industry. These are select stories that have been published on our website - TaiyangNews. if you are interested in weekly updates, please subscribe. For all news on solar, check our website https://taiyangnews.info/

CHINA

Sungrow to collaborate with 3 companies to establish a $138.9 million new energy fund: Solar PV inverter supplier Sungrow has announced its intention to jointly invest RMB 1 billion ($138.9 million) to establish a New Energy Multi-Strategy Industry Fund with Zhejiang Fuzhe Capitalm, Hangzhou Industrial Investment Co., Ltd., and Hefei Renfa New Energy Investment Fund. The share distribution among these four companies is 49%, 30%, 20%, and 1%, respectively. The fund will focus on investments in the upstream and downstream sectors of the new energy industry, including but not limited to photovoltaics, wind power application technologies, advanced energy storage, hydrogen technologies, carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and high-end intelligent manufacturing.

Sunowe terminates TOPCon cell manufacturing plans: Sunowe has announced that it has abandoned its plans to build a TOPCon cell manufacturing plant. The company cites delays in the delivery of the planned leased factory, the sharp decline in PV product prices, and the current market environment as the major factors behind this decision. It said that the decision comes after friendly negotiations with all shareholders keeping investment risks, management costs and resource allocation in view. Sunowe joins Shanxi Coal and JYT Corp, and a list of other companies, that have abandoned their manufacturing plans in recent months (see China Solar PV News Snippets).

INDIA

Alpex IPO ready for launch: Solar module manufacturer Alpex Solar Limited will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on February 8, 2024 and close the same on February 12, 2024. It plans to issue 64,80,000 equity shares with a face value of INR 10 each through the book building route. The price band is INR 109 to INR 115 ($1.31 to $1.38). It aims to raise INR 745 million ($8.97 million) through the IPO to invest in capacity expansion plans to expand from 450 MW now to 1.2 GW in the existing manufacturing unit. Proceeds will also be used to set up a new aluminum frame factory with the proceeds (see Alpex Solar Limited Files For Initial Public Offering).?

EUROPE

Lightsource bp divests stake in Italian projects: British solar developer Lightsource bp has signed a binding agreement to sell its 6 agrivoltaic projects in Italy to independent asset manager EOS Investment Management Group (EOS IM). The 294 MW portfolio is in the final stages of authorization process, with construction expected to begin within next 12 months. The 6 sites will enable various agricultural activities as the production of honey, cultivation of olives, pistachios and orange trees along with other crops. These can also enable sheep grazing, according to Lightsource. The company says this transaction allows it to reinvest and further extend its presence in the Italian market. It has so far developed over 1 GW of solar assets in Italy that’s currently in advanced authorization phase. It also admitted to having accumulated a substantial pipeline of energy storage projects as well.?

Over 700 MW more for Google: Technology giant Google has announced signing new power purchase agreements (PPA) for new wind and solar projects with more than 700 MW combined capacity. While most of these relate to wind energy procurement in the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium including for offshore wind, it will procure 106 MW of solar power in Poland. The 2 new solar agreements in Poland have been signed with GoldenPeaks Capital, it stated without sharing any other information. Google said, “This will add clean energy to the grid that our projections indicate will help our offices and cloud region in Poland achieve more than 90% carbon free energy in 2025.” These PPAs are part of the company’s 2030 goal to run all its data centers and office campuses on 24×7 carbon-free energy on every grid where it operates. Back in 2021, Eiffel Investment Group announced a €35 million bridge facility for GoldenPeaks for the early construction works of its Alpha and Charlie solar projects in Poland, with a total capacity of 150 MW to 200 MW (see ReneSola Signs JV Agreement With Eiffel Investment).?

Financing for Better Energy: Denmark-based solar energy company Better Energy has raised 3-digit DKK million amount from Jyske Bank to finance its renewable energy projects in the country. With the loan financing, it has built 3 solar parks in Denmark with a total capacity of around 200 MW. Part of a partnership between Better Energy and Industriens Pension, all the 3 PV facilities are now connected to the grid. These projects are expected to deliver an annual production of close to 210,000 MWh.?

Solar power for Groupe Pochet: French supplier of glass packaging to luxury brands in perfume, makeup and skincare, Groupe Pochet will offtake solar power from a 20 MW project in France. The company has signed a corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with Germany’s ABO Wind for whom this is its largest PV project in France. Groupe Pochet said the CPPA will support the solar plant that will help power the 1st French electric oven for luxury bottling of the company. The 20-year agreement will kick into effect when the project is online in early 2025, after the electric oven becomes operational at 2024-end. The French company says it plans to sign more such contracts within and outside of France to source locally produced green energy for its decarbonization efforts, and to source it at a fixed price.?

EBRD finance for Greece: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a framework to lend up to €300 million to finance renewable energy investments in Greece. It will be available for investments in electricity generation from renewable energy sources and in electricity distribution and transmission capacity to improve efficiency, reduce losses and enable the integration of renewables into the grid. Beneficiary technologies will be solar, wind, biomass and geothermal, among others.?

Solar Module Oversupply Brings Down European PPA Prices: LevelTen Energy’s latest assessment of renewable energy power purchase agreement (PPA) prices in Europe during Q4/2023 shows a 3% average decline in P25 or 25th percentile for solar energy projects. Analysts attribute this decline to an improvement in supply chain issues, leading to oversupply of modules globally.?

In the report titled Q4 2023 PPA Price Index Europe, analysts share that the P25 Price Index or the 25th percentile PPA prices during the period dropped to €71.84/MWh for solar energy. For wind power, the 1% decline led to an average €98.92/MWh.?

In the previous quarter, there was a 2% increase in PPA prices for both wind and solar in the continent with solar at €74.06/MWh and wind at €99.82/MWh (see Time To Make The Most Of Solar PPA Price Stability In Europe).?

Surplus supply of solar panels is a trend that LevelTen analysts foresee as continuing in the coming years. This brings price relief for developers as they navigate through the high interest rate environment.?

The sequential decline in solar PPA prices was a significant 11%, thanks to an increase in the number of PPA offers. In Spain, the decline was 7%, in Portugal 6% and in Germany 5%.?

On the other hand, Italy reported a 6% quarterly increase in prices while the UK saw a 1% increase.?

However, as module prices continue to decline by a further 40% by 2028 as estimated by the International Energy Agency (IEA), LevelTen sees price cannibalization and curtailments in markets like Spain, a threat for developers going forward.??

NORTH AMERICA

Aptera Motors’ 700W Solar Cells Equipped Solar Car Inching Closer To Fund Manufacturing: The US-based solar-powered electric vehicles pre-production startup Aptera Motors has raised more than $33 million to fund the initial phases of production for its solar electric vehicle (sEV) that will run on 3 wheels.?

Under its Accelerator Program, launched in January 2023, it sold the first 2,000 vehicle reservation slots to those who invested $10,000 or more into the company’s crowdfunding campaign. More than $2 million was raised over the last few days alone.?

The company has so far raised over $100 million over the last 2 years.?

“With over 46,000 reservation holders, we are dedicated to securing the remaining funds required for scalable, high-volume production of our solar EV,” said Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Aptera, Chris Anthony.?

Aptera’s sEV has a patented design for 2-axis automotive-grade solar panels with the Launch Edition having close to 700 W of solar cells to cover a 400-mile distance in a single charge like any other EV. It can travel up to 40 miles/per day on free power from its integrated solar panels.?

It claims that the car can ‘slip through the air’ using far less energy than other electric and hybrid vehicles today due to its unique shape that uses only 6 key body components. The sEV uses ultra-lightweight and curved solar panels.?

In October 2022, it had announced Maxeon Solar Technologies as the cell supplier for its solar production program.?

The funds raised through this program will be used to procure low-volume tooling and the buildout of its maiden production-intent vehicles that will be used for testing and validation. According to its website, Aptera aims to start production in 2024.?

Aptera had initially announced these sEVs in 2020, with 180 efficient solar cells integrated into its body (see US Company Launches ‘Never Charge’ Solar Powered EV).?

Finance for 600 MW AC solar project: Vesper Energy has achieved financial closure for its 745 MW DC/600 MW AC Hornet Solar Project in Texas. It secured a $590 million debt financing package for the facility from MUFG Bank, Nord/LB and Santander Corporate & Investment Banking as the coordinating lead arrangers, BayernLB as the joint lead arranger and Associated Bank as the lender.?

The Hornet project is one of the largest single-phase solar projects in the US, according to Vesper. It added that the facility will monetize over $500 million of Production Tax Credits (PTC) for over 10 years. The company plans to use bifacial solar modules on a single-axis tracking system. Blattner Energy is currently constructing the project that’s contracted to 4 offtake partners through individual power purchase agreements (PPA).?

Invenergy company’s community solar partnership: Community solar company Reactivate has entered into a partnership with Walmart and US Bancorp Impact Finance for a new portfolio of 7 community solar projects. Located in Illinois and New York, this portfolio will help close to 5,000 households, along with area non-profits, businesses and the public school district, save as much as 20% on their monthly electricity costs. An Invenergy company, Reactivate closed a tax equity transaction on the new portfolio worth 14.4 MW AC combined capacity, recently. Total customer savings from these facilities are expected to exceed $17 million over their lifetime, according to the developer.?

Altus Power’s 84 MW acquisition: Altus Power has completed the acquisition of around 84 MW of commercial-scale solar portfolio from energy trader Vitol in the US for close to $118 million. It comprises rooftop, ground mounted and carport arrays located in New York, New Jersey and Maine. These assets will benefit nearly 2,000 community solar subscribers and serve an additional 20 municipal, education and enterprise clients. Altus said the acquisition was closed using cash on hand. It expects to expand its funding facility with Blackstone in the near term to secure long-term financing.?

Canadian Solar Subsidiary Bags Microsoft As Offtaker For 127 MW DC Bayou Galion Solar Plant: Global technology giant Microsoft has turned offtaker for Recurrent Energy’s 127 MW DC/98.1 MW AC solar plant in Louisiana for which the latter has also raised $160 million in project financing.??

Microsoft will procure 100% of the energy generated as well as the renewable energy credits produced by the Bayou Galion Solar Plant. It will support the technology group’s aim to shift to 100% renewable energy supply by 2025 and become carbon-negative by 2030.?

The Bayou Galion project has been under construction in Morehouse Parish since December 2023. It is scheduled to become operational by fall 2024. Recurrent will own and operate the project once the EPC company Primoris Renewables Energy completes its construction.??

A subsidiary of Canadian Solar, Recurrent Energy has Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) as the coordinating lead arranger for the $160 million financing for this solar plant.?

“This project represents an important milestone as we continue to advance our pipeline in new markets and increase project ownership,” said Recurrent Energy CEO Ismael Guerrero. “Bayou Galion Solar extends our relationship with our esteemed partners at MUFG and establishes a new relationship with Microsoft, one of the world’s largest renewable energy power buyers.”?

Recently, BlackRock acquired a 20% stake in Recurrent Energy with a $500 million investment (see Recurrent Energy Lands $500 Million Equity Commitment).??