A Spanish solar-power portfolio has been acquired by the L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund, managed by Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and renewable energy specialist NTR.

The three pre-operational projects, located in Castilla la Mancha and Andalusia, were sold by global renewable-energy company BayWa RE.

They are due to enter operations in 2023 and are designed to displace 51,525 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

Long-term power-purchase agreements are in place with offtakers, including international food and packaging companies.

It is the first acquisition for the fund which seeks to help accelerate Europe’s energy transition by deploying institutional capital into solar, wind and energy-storage projects at different stages of their lifecycles across the continent.

The fund is categorised as Article 9 under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

Bill Hughes, global head of real assets at LGIM, said: “As we join forces with NTR to deploy institutional capital into sustainable infrastructure, this first transaction is indicative of our shared belief in solar as a vital energy source when it comes to decarbonisation and a provider of attractive, long-term and reliable yields.”

Benedikt Ortmann, global director of solar projects of BayWa RE, said: “Such investment in clean-energy infrastructure accelerates the development of new renewable installations and thus plays an important role in achieving vital climate goals.

“In Spain, we have been operating for more than 10 years and during that time have been steadily increasing our project pipeline. Our solar projects in the country have been built without any subsidies for several years now.”