Press releases

Frankfurt am Main, 22.01.2019

The SUNfarming Group from Erkner, Germany, has secured a financing facility of 20 million euros for the construction of photovoltaic projects in Poland with a volume of 40 MWp.

SUNfarming Polska plans to expand the existing solar portfolio in Poland to volume of at least 40 MWp within this year. The majority will be projects with auctions won in 2017 and 2018.

The first projects to be financed through the raised credit facility constitute of four photovoltaic plants in Ostrołęka, each with a size of 1 MWp and a total capacity of 4 MWp. All plants were put into operation in December 2018 and have been awarded with a contract for difference in the first Polish test call at the end of 2016.

Another part of the financing is planned to fund new projects with a total of 5 MWp, which are already in the portfolio of SUNfarming. Three SUNfarming solar parks, each with 1 MWp, are to be built near Łask in the Łódz province, two others in the province of Lower Silesia near Ząbkowice Śląskie. These projects have been awarded with an auction tariff in the tender in June 2017, completion is scheduled until 30 June 2019. All photovoltaic farms benefit from a 15-year contract for difference with the Polish Energy Agency URE, which guarantees a fixed feed-in tariff for each kWh produced by getting reimbursed the difference to the market price.

The financing line of 20 million euros, raised by the SUNfarming Group, will be used to finance the construction phase of the existing and planned SUNfarming photovoltaic projects in Poland and was collateralized at the level of a Polish asset holding company, which is the owner of the project companies. SUNfarming was supported by Capcora GmbH, Frankfurt am Main. The consulting firm specialized in real assets was mandated as a financial advisor with the structuring of the transaction and the debt sourcing.

"There is a tremendous need for alternative forms of bridge financing in Poland. Since last year, Poland is beginning to regain confidence of institutional investors. The Polish project finance market is still in its infancy. Therefore, in our view, flexible instruments to bridge project financing by banks, which remain in a waiting position, are enormously important. Especially in terms of small-scale PV projects bridge financing enable sponsors to bundle these projects into a larger scale portfolio in order to attract better conditions for refinancing, "explains Alexander Enrique Kuhn, Managing Director and responsible for energy and infrastructure at Capcora.

"We are pleased to announce the closing of this transaction, which we completed within only 6 weeks at the turn of the year. We thank all involved parties for the efficient and professional cooperation. The bridging line enables us to consistently push our strategy in Poland and accelerate our international growth. With a planned PV capacity of 1.2 GW by 2020 and an installed capacity of only around 360 MW currently, Poland represents an important future market for us, "said Martin Tauschke, CEO of SUNfarming.

About SUNfarming:

Since founding in 2004, SUNfarming GmbH covers the entire project development and EPC value added chain (engineering, procurement, construction): from planning, development and financing to construction, and monitoring and maintenance of solar parks. The company has a long-standing customer base comprising capital investors, municipalities, users of commercial and private proprietary power plants as well as sister companies of the Schrum-Tauschke corporate family investing in solar energy systems.

The international team of experienced merchants, engineers and technicians has already successfully realized a plant output of more than 550 MWp. For more than 280 MWp in Germany and abroad SUNfarming takes over the technical management. www.sunfarming.com

About Capcora:

Capcora is a consulting firm, specialized on real assets. Capcora procures equity, mezzanine and debt financing for energy and infrastructure projects, real estate, and medium sized companies. The focus is especially on mezzanine financing for the recapitalization of tied-up liquidity in operating assets as well as for bridge financing of developments and construction measures in the area of renewable energies (photovoltaics, onshore wind) and real estate through alternative financing sources. www.capcora.com