Spanish electric utility Endesa has signed two loans with Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), a Spanish state finance agency, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) worth €500 million to fund solar and wind projects in the country.
While Endesa announced the signing of the two loans simultaneously, they are separate deals. The ICO funding amounts to €300 million and will be used to aid construction at 20 PV plants and eight wind farms, with a power capacity of 2.35GW and 0.55GW respectively. Construction on these projects began in 2021, a year in which the company’s solar power capacity leapt from 497GWh in 2020 to 1,067GWh by the end of 2021.
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Meanwhile, the EIB loan is the final investment made by the bank in Endesa’s work under REPowerEU. The EIB has committed an additional €200 million to Endesa, bringing its total investment in the company up to €700 million, and this money will go towards building grid infrastructure for a number of solar and onshore wind projects in Spain. According to Endesa, these solar projects have a total capacity of 1.5GWp, while the wind facilities have a capacity of 0.4GW.
The deals will help Endesa deliver on its own clean energy goals, which include reaching net-zero emissions across its operations by 2040.
The loans could also help the company meet a number of national- and continent-scale targets for clean power production.
“Having the support of the EIB and the ICO once again is a guarantee of the solidity of Endesa’s commitment to comply with its strategic plan and continue walking towards the decarbonisation of the economy,” said Endesa CEO José Bogas. “This financing linked to sustainability criteria will contribute to comply with the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, as well as with the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) of our country.”
“[The funding” is also in line with the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package, which is going to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050”, Bogas added.
Last week, the Spanish government updated its NECP, which sets out a roadmap for Spanish clean power until the end of the decade. The new plan calls for 76GW of solar PV capacity by the end of 2030, a significant increase on the 39GW targeted by the old version of the NECP, and Endesa will hope that the latest round of funding will help the Spanish solar sector push towards this target.
