Corporate solar funding increases with PV assets in 'excellent demand'

• There was a more than fourfold increase in corporate solar funding in Q1 2021 compared with the same quarter last year, in the middle of strong need for PV properties around the world, according to brand-new analysis by Mercom Capital.

The research firm located that overall corporate financing-- including venture capital (VC) financing, public market and financial debt funding-- reached US$ 8.1 billion, up from the US$ 1.9 billion recorded in Q1 2020, when the market was hit by a slowdown in task because of COVID-19.

In spite of interruptions over the past year, there has been a substantial higher pattern in financing throughout the last 3 quarters, with the latest numbers establishing the industry for a strong 2021.

"Despite the fact that solar stocks shed some of their trigger in the initial quarter after an unmatched run in 2020, a large IPO and also record securitisation activity raised general fundraising total amounts," claimed Raj Prabhu, Chief Executive Officer of Mercom Capital Group. He claimed solar properties remain in "terrific demand" with practically 15GW of projects acquired in Q1.

Global VC financing for the solar sector reached US$ 1 billion, a 33% increase on the previous quarter and a 610% surge on Q1 2020. According to Mercom, the top VC-funded business in Q1 2021 were: Loanpal, a provider of domestic solar funding, which elevated US$ 800 million; renewables developer Intersect Power; African off-grid solar electrical energy distributor Daystar Power; and Tigo Energy, a provider of module-level power electronics.

Reported debt funding in Q1 2021 jumped to US$ 4.3 billion via 14 bargains, up from the US$ 1.8 billion secured from 7 sell the very first quarter of 2020.

At the same time, there were 20 M&A transactions in Q1, 15 of which engaged solar downstream companies. Recent sell the space have seen EDF Renewables acquire 100% of US distributed generation company EnterSolar, while Spanish utility Naturgy revealed in January a US$ 57 million purchase of US solar and also storage space programmer Hamel Renewables.

In regards to large-scale solar project acquisitions, there were 82 deals in Q1 2021 completing 14.6 GW of ability, with designers as well as independent power producers one of the most active, followed by investment company and funds.

Project acquisitions announced throughout the quarter consist of Lightsource BP's purchase of a 1,060 MW Spanish solar profile and an offer by commercial group Mytilineos that will certainly see it tackle a profile of 20 PV projects in Greece with an integrated capability of 1,480 MW along with a host of battery storage installations.