Helexia, a French company active in the development of large rooftop photovoltaic systems, has promoted and concluded the financing of a portfolio of 13 photovoltaic systems, built on the roofs of commercial buildings of the Leroy Merlin and Auchan groups located throughout Italy.
July 15, 2017
The financing-according to classic project finance schemes-was signed with the UBI Banca banking group, which has been active for years in investments in the Italian photovoltaic sector. The portfolio, with a total capacity of about 4.5 MW and managed by 2 SPVs of purpose, represents one of the most interesting photovoltaic initiatives carried out in the post-Conto Energia regime, and is based on a concept of direct synergy between energy producer and consumer: the energy produced by the plants, in fact, is mainly sold to the operating business of the buildings hosting the plants (Leroy Merlin or Auchan), which uses it to meet the business’ electricity needs. This logic of distributed generation guarantees advantages and economies both in favor of the consumer (who saves in system charges related to the self-consumed portion, and who uses “green” energy for his own needs), and in favor of the producer, who gains from revenues in the area of direct sales and consumer prices, which are greater than those accruable according to the classical valuations of the electricity market. The configuration makes the investment sustainable even under the reduced incentives of the V Conto Energia or, even, in grid parity, in 5 of the plants that make up the asset.
As Technical Advisor, EOS assisted UBI Banca in the technical evaluation of the portfolio and the structuring of the financing. Particular attention was focused on the most appropriate identification of the energy flows of production, consumption and feeding into the grid of the surpluses, in order to identify – in combination with the conditions arising from energy sales contracts and GSE incentives where present, as well as taking into account estimates of producibility based also on historical data – the correct revenues applicable to the Base Case. The objective of the Technical Due Diligence activity was also to verify the absence of risks related to the technical compliance of the projects with the permits obtained and good engineering practices, as well as to ascertain the contractual conditions proposed for the management and operation of the assets.
