Cero closes 70MW Italian solar financing

• Pontinia PV project site will likewise include land made use of for farming agricultural crops

Cero Generation has actually accomplished economic close of its 70MW solar project in Italy.

The Pontinia project in Latina province is one of the first large-scale agrivoltaic solar projects in Italy.

It has been developed to maximise performance as well as performance using single-axis trackers, bifacial modules and also string inverters.

Construction will commence in May 2022.

Pontinia is expected to reach commercial operation in the first quarter of 2023.

As well as supply tidy electrical energy to the grid, as an agrivoltaic plant, 65% of the 135 hectares that Pontinia sits on will certainly also be utilized for agricultural crops.

This twin use arable land is an increasingly important strategy for the deployment of utility-scale solar projects that are integral to accomplishing a net zero future, Cero specified.

Further positive effect will certainly additionally be provided with the collaboration between Cero and also a social farm, which will be responsible for growing crops across the site making use of biodynamic and fuel-efficient methods, while offering possibilities for the reintegration of vulnerable or socially left out individuals.

As one of the biggest grid-parity solar projects to reach financial enclose Italy, Pontinia is at the forefront of the change to subsidy-free solar PV projects in the nation, specified Cero.

The project's profits are underpinned by two long-lasting corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) making it one of the first corporate PPA project financings in Italy.

"At Cero, we view development as being vital to attaining net-zero. I'm as a result honored to see this reflected in the Pontinia project with its agrivoltaic layout and the structure of its funding and off-take arrangements.

"We eagerly anticipate remaining to bring this level of advancement right into our wider pipeline of projects in Italy and also other European markets," said Marta Martinez Queimadelos, Chief Executive Officer of Cero Generation.

Cero was suggested by Ashurst as well as the banking companions were advised by Gianni & Origoni (legal) as well as RINA (technical advisory).

Cero is an independent portfolio firm of Macquarie's Green Investment Group (GIG) operating on a standalone basis and also has more than 1.5 GW of solar PV capacity under development in Italy.