Renewable energy company Green Genius and the new Eiffel Transition Infrastructure fund, managed by Eiffel Investment Group, have formed a joint venture to jointly develop and build a 500 MW portfolio of solar farms in Italy. Eiffel will initially invest up to €15 million to support the development of this portfolio and additional funds will be dedicated to support projects during the construction phase.
Eiffel Investment Group and Green Genius: a collaboration since 2019
This new joint venture is a continuation of the relationship between Eiffel Investment Group and Green Genius, which have been collaborating on PV projects in Poland, Italy and Spain since 2019. Green Genius will bring 500 MW of projects in Italy (mainly in the regions of Puglia and Sardinia) to the permitting phase and Eiffel will finance this critical phase to obtain the necessary authorizations through equity financing. Green Genius will lead the development process until the projects are ready for construction, which is scheduled for late 2023.
This new solution is offered by Eiffel Transition Infrastructure, an innovative fund designed to provide equity financing for renewable energy infrastructure assets in Europe and launched in 2022 by the French asset manager. By signing this agreement, Eiffel’s fund has acquired a minority stake in the joint venture and will support the development and construction of the projects. Once operational, these projects are expected to provide enough renewable electricity for more than 90,000 homes, helping to avoid the equivalent of 330,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
A project that requires significant amounts of capital
“The green transformation in Europe requires significant amounts of capital in various forms. This innovative capital solution offered by our partner provides flexibility and opens up new opportunities in a complex process of renewable energy development. Italy is one of our key markets where the company has successfully developed projects in the past,” says Rokas Bancevičius, CFO of Green Genius.
Pierre-Antoine Machelon, Head of Infrastructure at Eiffel, said, “This investment is the result of a long-standing collaboration with Green Genius, with whom we are very pleased to partner on this new platform. This is the second investment in our equity strategy launched in November 2022 to accelerate the development of renewable projects in Europe through the Eiffel Transition Infrastructure fund.”
