Recording of Wednesday, June 19, 2024 | The smarter E Europe | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 13:57 .
Aquila Clean Energy, part of Aquila Capital, is a notable player in the renewable energy sector across Europe and Asia. Recently, Commerzbank has partnered with Aquila's investment arm to enter the private sector for green energy project financing. This collaboration aims to unlock private capital for such initiatives. The discussion focuses on funding photovoltaic (PV) plants amidst challenges related to debt acquisition. Aquila Clean Energy has significant PV developments in Southern Europe—Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal—and successfully raised €1 billion two years ago for over 50 PV assets in Iberia with substantial support from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which contributed €400 million using an EU Invest program guarantee concept. EIB’s interest lay in exploring merchant financing due to market gaps despite functioning Spanish and Portuguese markets without subsidies. The process required negotiating construction financing terms meticulously with EIB and seven commercial banks involved due diligence pre-agreements to streamline operations. Convincing risk-averse managers about low-risk projects remains critical throughout these discussions. Overall efforts reflect a structured approach toward enhancing green finance by facilitating investments while managing intricate financial negotiations effectively.
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Dr. Konstanze Kinne
Head of Treasury Aquila Clean Energy EMEA
Aquila Capital
The Netherlands
Despite the global exponential growth of solar power, challenges currently loom large — from soaring debt costs to dwindling capture prices and escalating curtailment rates. These hurdles threaten to impede deployment growth in the urgent race to triple renewables installation by 2030. The pressure for innovative solutions and rapid action is high, and financing is key. Our session will therefore convene investors, developers and financing institutions to analyze key issues and explore new perspectives on solar finance, with the aim of driving the realization of a sustainable and prosperous future through advanced solar initiatives.
Topics will include:
1. Assessing financing conditions for solar power plants
2. Analyzing the impact of policy shifts on PV project financing
3. Strategizing to enhance solar project financing
This panel discussion is organized by the Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW-Solar) in cooperation with the Women Energize Women (WEW) initiative. Women Energize Women (#womenenergize) is a campaign for the global empowerment of women in the energy sector by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) within the scope of BMWK's global project Bilateral Climate and Energy Partnerships and Dialogues. (https://www.womenenergize.org/)
Further Talks of this session:
Speaker
Katarzyna Rezza Vega
Head of Women Energize Women
German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) GmbH
Madagascar
Speaker
Tsvetelina Kuzmanova
Senior Policy Advisor
E3G -Third Generation Environmentalism
Belgium
Speaker