In a historic first for the renewable energy industry, solar PV manufacturer Sunpower (SPWRA) completed a EUR 195 million bond sale to finance the final 44 MW phases of construction of the 72 MW Montalto di Castro solar park in Italy.
The bonds, due in 2028, are the world’s first publicly rated issue for a solar project and offer a new, innnovative way to finance large scale renewable energy projects.
"This is the world’s first publicly rated bond issue for a solar project, as well as Italy’s first rated project bond. It opens up a new global-scale pool of capital to fund solar projects beyond traditional project financing from banks," says Dennis Arriola, SunPower CFO. "Achieving investment grade ratings is a milestone for the solar sector and further demonstrates the bankability of SunPower’s turnkey solar energy systems. Our success is a culmination of an exhaustive due diligence process which resulted in various independent parties recognizing the technical, financial and operating expertise that SunPower delivers."
The solar bonds were issued in two classes:
- Class A1 bonds of euro 97.6m in fixed rate notes paying 5.715%, due in 2028
- Class A2 bonds of euro 97.6m in fixed rate notes paying 4.839%, due in 2028
The Class A1 benefit from a loan guarantee by SACE (an insurance and financial group controlled by Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance) and its Aa2 credit rating from Moody’s. The class A2 bonds are rated Baa3 from Moody’s and were purchased by the European Investment Bank.
SunPower completed the 72 MW Montalto di Castro solar park this month. It’s one of the world’s largest solar parks in terms of energy generation, with about 140 gigawatt hours of electricity a year.
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