Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners partners up with Forestalia for the investment in a portfolio of more than 1GW of onshore wind farms under development in Aragon, Spain

All the projects in the portfolio have secured grid connection rights and are currently being progressed towards financial close, which is expected in approximately 24 months. Under the terms of the agreement, Forestalia will provide development services to the portfolio of projects until they reach financial close and begin construction.

This transaction represents a new investment for Copenhagen Infrastructure IV (CI-IV), the latest energy infrastructure fund managed by CIP. CIP has recently announced that CI-IV has reached an intermediate closing at EUR 4 billion, rapidly approaching its target fund size of EUR 5.5 billion.

This latest transaction builds on the proven partnership between Forestalia and CIP, which has already led to the successful investment in the development and construction of the Monegros portfolio comprising of 12 onshore wind farms with a total installed capacity of 487 MW also located in Aragon, Spain. The construction phase of Monegros is progressing well and, despite the challenges caused by Covid-19, it remains on time and on budget. Commercial operations date (COD) has been achieved for the first wind farms in the Monegros portfolio and the remaining ones will gradually reach COD over the next months. The power output from the Monegros portfolio has been secured through a long-term PPA and earlier this year a consortium of six banks has committed a debt package of approx. EUR 380 million available for drawdown upon the wind farms reaching COD.

“It’s very exciting to continue building on our successful partnership with Forestalia for this new portfolio of more than 1GW of high quality onshore wind projects in Spain. We have shown that Forestalia and CIP together have the right competences to successfully deliver such projects, and we are convinced that, together with local and industrial partners, we will be delivering these windfarms to the highest standards”, says Christian Skakkebæk, Senior Partner at CIP.

“This new agreement with CIP guarantees very important investments for the province of Teruel, as the plants will create jobs in a territory that needs new opportunities for the future. Renewable energy has a great importance for rural areas. Forestalia is developing its entire portfolio, of more than 6GW, together with top-level international partners. It’s very exciting to strengthen our alliance with CIP”, says Fernando Samper, Chairman of Forestalia.

Watson Farley & Williams and FIH Partners advised CIP on the transaction. Clifford Chance advised Forestalia.