Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the renewables specialist partly founded by PensionDanmark, has bought the 374MW onshore wind portfolio Monegros in Aragon, Spain, and already started construction on initial projects.
CIP said the deal involves an expected total equity investment of more than €350m, and will be financed with 100% equity from its CI III fund, which has 42 big investors, including UK and Nordic pension funds.
Christian Skakkebæk, senior partner at CIP, said: “We look forward to the project coming online, to create local jobs and help reduce carbon emissions by delivering clean, renewable wind energy.”
The fund management company said its Monegros portfolio consists of nine individual projects comprising 99 wind turbines supplied by GE Renewable Energy.
The nine new parks derive from the renewable energy auction awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Energy in May 2017, and have been declared investments of regional interest by the Government of Aragon, according to GE Renewable Energy, which has agreed with CIP to provide the technology and services to power the facility.
The power generated at Monegros is expected to cover the electricity consumption of more than 300,000 average Spanish households a year, the energy firm said.
CIP said work has begun on the portfolio’s first projects with this first phase having a capacity of 113MW, and expects all projects to begin operating commercially halfway through next year.
“This achievement would not be possible without the strong support of our local partner, Forestalia, and the close cooperation with GE Renewable Energy and the BoP contractors Copsa, Elecnor and GES,” said Skakkebæk.
