ACCIONA Energía has closed an AUD$453 million (€263 million) syndicated loan facility for the construction of its Aldoga Solar Farm, on the central Queensland coast, through Cesce, the Spanish export credit agency, under its Green Investment Policy.
The green syndicated loan facility has been granted by four banks (Mandated Lead arrangers), Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, ING and J.P. Morgan. Among these entities, Banco Santander acted as Cesce Agent and ING as ESG Coordinator.
This financing will have a dual impact: on one hand, it supports the construction of a renewable generation plant aligned with the European taxonomy; on the other, it will generate a positive impact on local communities by including the development of regenerative agriculture programs for farmers in the area, with specific indicators to measure their impact and progress.
ACCIONA Energía is responsible for the development, engineering, construction, management, operation and maintenance of the Aldoga Solar Farm, which will feature 820,000 solar PV modules and have an installed capacity of 480MWp. Total investment in the project is estimated at AUD$670 million (€390 million).
Project construction began in late 2023, with operation expected to start by mid-2026. Once completed, the plant will generate enough clean electricity to supply nearly 185,000 homes and avoid the emission of around 934,000 tonnes of CO2 each year. The operation and maintenance phase of the solar farm will last 30 years, and the door-to-door term of the loan covered by Cesce will be 15 years and a half.
This is the second syndicated green loan in which Cesce supports ACCIONA Energía, adding to the approximately €712 million closed in 2023 to finance the construction of the MacIntyre Wind Farm, also in Australia. The transaction stood out as the largest financing secured to date by Cesce through its Green Investment Policy, underlining its commitment to sustainable and large-scale renewable energy projects.
