Pro-Active Investors – February 18th 2021 – This acquisition is the first of four parks being purchased from the same Italian seller and the company is in the process of completing the other three parks, expected in Q1 2021
Alternus Energy Group PLC (NOTC:ALT) has announced the acquisition of KKSOL S.r.l and its 557 kWp operational rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant located in the province of Acona in Italy.
This acquisition is the first of four parks being purchased from the same Italian seller and the company is in the process of completing the other three parks, expected in Q1 2021. Combined with Alternus Energy’s current acquisition programme, this will increase its operating capacity to over 140 MWp over the next few months.
The total compensation for this acquisition is approximately €1.36 million after working capital adjustments, and the project will be financed from the proceeds raised in the successful placement of €110 million green bond fundraise in conjunction with the €27 million equity raise which was completed in December 2020.
“We are happy to close the acquisition of our twelfth solar park in Italy which marks the first purchase under the recent Green Bond placement. Solar energy is the cleanest and most secure energy source in the world, and the Company’s mission is to make this energy widely available as we target our goal of owning and operating over 2 GWp of PV solar by 2025,” said Vincent Browne, CEO of Alternus Energy in a statement.
KKSOL S.r.l has been in operation since August 2012 and has produced over 2,300 MWh in the past four years. It benefits from a 20-year government counterparty Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) that guarantees a fixed sale price for every kWh of energy produced, of which there are just under 12 years left. Additionally, the park sells energy generated to the national grid on the wholesale energy market and will continue to do so beyond the FiT period. The project is expected to yield annual EBITDA margins of 91% and over 20% levered IRR returns.
“KKSOL is the first of many extensions of our profitable portfolio of solar PV parks across Europe this year. The predictable cash flows from this project, enabled by lean and efficient operations, will support and accelerate our growth going forward,” commented Joseph Duey, CFO of Alternus Energy.
Currently, Alternus owns 25 solar PV Parks across Europe, with a total installed capacity of 30.5 MWp including this most recent acquisition. The company has contracted over 300 MWp of additional solar PV projects and has a current pipeline of over 1.2 GWp across Europe for potential acquisition in 2021.
“Notwithstanding our current corporate goal of achieving 2 GWs by 2025, as we sit today, we see a clear path to reaching this goal in less than half that time. We are still at the very beginning of a solar energy boom and we very much look forward to the rest of this journey, including listing on Euronext Growth as soon as possible,” Browne added.
Alternus Energy is a fast-growing international independent power producer (IPP), headquartered in Ireland, with a focus on the midsized utility solar PV market. The company owns and operates a diverse portfolio of utility scale solar PV parks that connect directly to national power grids on long-term government contracts and/or power purchase agreements with investment-grade off-takers.
Having started in 2016 with two parks and 6 MWp capacity, the company’s current portfolio consists of 39 owned or contracted parks in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Poland in excess of 150 MWp capacity. Alternus Energy works closely with both local and international specialist development partners that provide a constant pipeline of new projects, currently over 1.2 GWp, across Europe for acquisition. It aims to own and operate over 2 GWs of solar parks by the end of 2025.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com
