KGAL Investment Management has announced a joint venture with Polish project developer Lasuno for its KGAL ESPF 5 impact fund, for the purpose of developing four solar parks with a total capacity of more than 200 megawatts (MW).
The pipeline will be expanded in the coming years to include additional solar and wind projects. The first solar parks are expected to reach Ready-to-Build (RTB) status by the end of 2025.
Poland has recently reached a milestone in promoting energy transition through regulatory and financial support mechanisms, according to KGAL. The share of lignite and hard coal in electricity generation – currently more than 70% – is falling.
In turn, the solar PV market is growing faster than in almost any other European country, with capacity increasing from just 0.2 gigawatts to 10.7 gigawatts in the last six years.
'KGAL has been active in Poland since 2019 because of the attractive framework conditions for renewable energy. First, the potential returns in Poland are above average, and second, we can achieve a particularly large impact with our solar and wind power plants by replacing GHG-intensive electricity generation,' said Michael Ebner, managing director of KGAL Investment Management.
KGAL ESPF 5 will hold a majority stake in the joint venture, while Lasuno will be responsible for the development and management of the projects.
Wojciech Kawecki, founder and managing director of Lasuno, added: 'With KGAL we have found a financially strong partner that is already successfully driving similar joint ventures in the solar and wind sectors in several European countries.'
The Polish pipeline currently consists of four large solar projects, which are in the early stages of development, in the north and west of the country. Three of the sites are also suitable for wind farms. The joint venture will develop these and other projects to RTB status and selected projects can be added to the KGAL ESPF 5 portfolio.
'KGAL ESPF 5’s platform investments to date in Germany, Italy and Spain have played an important role in ensuring that our impact fund has significantly exceeded its return expectations since its launch at the end of 2021,' said Florian Martin, managing director of KGAL Investment Management. 'The fund concept also has investors convinced, and at least one further closing is planned for KGAL ESPF 5 this year.'
