Photon Energy secures $19m for Hungary solar projects

Dutch renewables company Photon Energy has closed another long-term non-recourse project financing agreement for an additional 20.1 MW of its solar PV power plant portfolio in Hungary.

The portfolio comprises 29 individual KÁT-licensed PV plants in Monor, Fert?d, Kunszentmárton, Taszár, Mályi, and Tata and financing of $19.9m is being provided by K&H Bank, the Hungarian subsidiary of Belgian KBC Group N.V. and one of Hungary’s largest banking and financial services firms.

Eight projects in Monor were commissioned in October, five in Fert?d and two in Kunszentmárton in November and three in Taszár earlier this month.

An additional three projects in Mályi with a total capacity of 2.1 MW and eight projects in Tata with a combined capacity of 5.4 MW are expected to be online in the first three months of 2020.

“Environmental protection is a key part of K&H’s sustainability strategy, as in addition to being a financial intermediary, we are also responsible for the natural environment in which our customers, partners and employees operate,” said Mihály Országh of K&H Bank.

“This is how K&H Bank will continue to play an active role in the financing of photovoltaic investments.”

Photon Energy chief financial officer Clemens Wohlmuthsaid the financing deal“marks another milestone in our expansion strategy in Hungary. We have built and are pre-financing the power plants with the proceeds of our EUR bond placement. Refinancing the second grid-connected group of 29 PV plants with K&H Bank is a major step forward in our strategy for the Hungarian market to build at least 75 MWp of PV power plants for our portfolio by the end of 2021. This step allows us to free up significant liquidity and to build further projects in Hungary next year.”

Photon Energy delivered the engineering, procurement and construction services for all power plants through its subsidiary Photon Energy Solutions HU Kft. The group’s subsidiary Photon Energy Operations HU Kft will provide long-term monitoring as well as operations and maintenance services to the power plants.