Voltalia has divested 197MW of ‘ready-to-build’ wind farm projects to private equity firm Actis Group’s Brazilian-controlled company Echoenergia.
Image: An onshore wind farm. Photo: Photo by Karsten Würth (@inf1783) on Unsplash.
This sale is part of a wider partnership of up to 500 MW regarding a portfolio of future wind projects located in Voltalia’s Serra Branca cluster in North East Brazil. The sale and the partnership have no impact on Voltalia-owned projects in Brazil including 433 MW in operation and 223 MW won in December 2017 and August 2018.
“This 197 MW sale to Echoenergia and the partnership signed for up to 500 MW demonstrate once again the quality of our Serra Branca cluster. In parallel to building up our own portfolio of power facilities, in this cluster and in new wind and solar clusters in Brazil, we will continue to partner with third-party investors. These investors rely on Voltalia’s capacity to develop quality projects, providing an additional stream of income for our Services business line. Brazil’s market remains very supportive for Voltalia.”, says Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia Group.
“We are very pleased to announce this partnership with Echoenergia which will benefit from our team´s development work and return of experience for this cluster since 2008. Both sides will take advantage of additional economies of scale for their respective assets, including Voltalia’s projects won recently: the 163 MW Ventos da Serra do Mel (VSM) and the 60 MW VSM2 projects which are scheduled to be progressively commissioned in the course of 2020”, explains Robert Klein, Head of Voltalia in Brazil.
Over the past years, Voltalia has pursued a strategy consisting in developing a large volume of highly competitive projects worldwide with the view of keeping some projects while partnering with equity partners for others. In Brazil, Voltalia’s largest cluster of projects, Serra Branca, has a long-term potential of nearly 2 GW, of which 309 MW are in operation, 223 MW are to be completed in 2020, and a big volume is fully developed and ready to be submitted to auctions for long-term power sale agreements or under private electricity sales contracts.
In this context, Voltalia has signed a partnership with Echoenergia which gives Echoenergia access to a series of ready-to-build sites within Voltalia’s Serra Branca cluster, up to a maximum of 500 MW (including the 197 MW capacity sold today). These sites are at an advanced stage of development regarding land leasing, wind measurement, permitting and grid connection. It is then up to Echoenergia to secure long-term power sales agreements and to invest in order to finance construction. Echoenergia has already secured 197 MW of free market power sales agreements and will actively pursue more sales contracts up to the 500 MW maximum.
Voltalia will generate services revenues from the sale of the site and from other local services to Echoenergia during construction and operation of its plants. The partnership is also a way for Voltalia to share the cost of a new transmission line which will be available to all future Serra Branca projects.
Source: Company Press Release