Renewable Power Capital (RPC), a renewable energy investment platform backed by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CCP Investments), has formed a 50:50 joint venture with local developer Benbros Solar to develop an over 3.4GW solar power project portfolio.
The solar pipeline contains 14 projects across the Spanish regions of Andalucía, Extremadura, Castilla la Mancha, Aragon and Murcia, which are mostly located in the central or southern parts of the country.
“This marks our first investment in Spain, and we are pleased to have achieved yet another key objective that we were targeting, particularly so quickly after launching,” said Renewable Power Capital chairman Shaun Kingsbury.
“Spain has strong solar resources and with this development portfolio, which is of significant size, we are confident that we will deliver the scale and diversity we seek for our platform.”
Entering into a JV with Benbros comes after RPC in January had announced the purchase of a 171MW onshore wind portfolio in Finland from regional developer OX2.
RPC was launched in December 2020 and aims at enabling the energy transition through a long-term investment strategy underpinned by an approach to managing development and merchant risk.
The Canada Pension Plan is one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system. That it is indirectly investing in Finnish wind power and Spanish solar underscores the solidity of renewables developments in the European countries.
Spain targets to boost its renewable energy capacity to 50GW by 2025. Due to the Mediterranean country’s strong solar resource, it boasts the lowest solar levelised cost of energy (LCOE) in Europe, RPC stressed.
The company praised Benbros as a well-regarded developer with an outstanding track record and deep knowledge of the local solar market.
“We have been leaders in Spanish-based solar for some time and the region in which we operate is a well-known market for subsidy-free financing,” said Benbros chief executive Rafael Benjumena.
“Our expertise and RPC’s flexible mandate position us as the partner of choice for developers in the region.”
