Macquarie invests $140m in Spanish solar tower and parabolic trough projects

Macquarie Asset Management, the global asset manager for Australian financial giant Macquarie Group, says it is making a €90 million debt investment in a portfolio of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants located in Southern Spain. 

The €90 million debt investment, which converts to around $AU140 million, was made on behalf of Macquarie’s institutional clients through a bespoke, long-dated and subordinated debt financing which will provide financial support for the portfolio. 

The CSP portfolio is worth 120MW and has been in operation since 2011 under the ownership of Q-Energy, a leading European renewable energy asset manager and the renewable energy brand of Qualitas Equity. 

It includes the ground-breaking 20 MW Gemasolar tower plant, the world’s first solar plant to achieve 24-hour operations, and two 50 MW parabolic trough solar parks, Valle 1 and Valle 2.

The projects are all located in Andalusia, in Southern Spain, and generate electricity equivalent to the power of over 84,000 Spanish households, while avoiding 126,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. 

See: It’s time to shine for 24-hour solar power. Although the roll out of solar thermal projects was put back by the plunging cost of solar PV and wind energy, new emphasis is now being placed on the value of its storage.

“Spain has set an ambitious target of increasing its renewable energy capacity to 60GW by 2030, including five GW of new CSP capacity,” said Tom van Rijsewijk, the head of Macquarie Asset Management’s Private Credit team.

“We are delighted to once again partner with Q-Energy to support Spain’s energy transition, providing flexibility and clean electricity to the grid through this innovative CSP technology.”

It is the fourth time Macquarie Asset Management has worked with Q-Energy, and previous Macquarie investments include the €38 million debt investment in a portfolio of solar farms in south-eastern Spain, closed back in September of 2019.

This followed a 2018 debt investment in a 30.3MW solar portfolio, also in Spain, and preceded the largest Macquarie investment in Q-Energy portfolios, which was closed in February of this year and was worth €117 million. 

“Q-Energy has become one of the most active renewable energy project bond issuers in Europe, having placed more than €2 billion with tier-one institutional investors including Macquarie,” said Daniel Parejo, Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Q-Energy.