FINLAND: Alight pursues project financing deal for circa 300 MW PV portfolio

Swedish developer Alight is understood to be in the early stages of conducting a debt raise to finance construction of an approximately 300 MW portfolio of solar projects in Finland.

The group’s assets in the country are headed up by the 100 MW Eurajoki development in the south-west of the country which is now fully permitted and is in the process of arranging its grid connection.

Alight is now seeking to contract a PPA with a commercial & industrial offtaker for the output from Eurajoki , both by responding to RfPs and proactively presenting the project to potential buyers.

The solar farm is forecast to produce 107 GWh of electricity each year, once it reaches operations in 2026, with construction scheduled to start in 2025.

Alight also has three other PV projects in the south-west of Finland now in the midst of permitting, which range in size from 40 MW to 90 MW and are intended to also form part of the financing transaction, which is currently being pitched to lenders in the market.

This portion of the portfolio is predicted to potentially reach shovel-ready stage before the end of 2024.

The company will bid to reach financial close on the debt raise during Q3 2024, it is understood, and is running the process in-house.

DIF-backed Alight currently possesses a circa 500 MW pipeline in Finland, including earlier-stage schemes, and will bid to increase this to 1.5 GW by the end of 2024 through greenfield development, partnerships and bolt-on acquisitions.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM Europe subscribers.

NPM Europe is a leading data, intelligence and events company covering the European renewable energy market for the development, financing, M&A and corporate community.