Poland

The loan agreement signed with mBank in September 2020 related to a portfolio of PV projects with a total capacity of over 22 MW and amounts to PLN 90.65 million. And the loan agreement signed in October 2020 for the 26 MW portfolio with ING Bank Śląski S.A. amounts to PLN 116 million. Both loans are for 15 years, which is also the period of the FIT payments granted. Furthermore, VAT could also be co-financed as a bridge loan.

The capacity of the individual projects from the SUNfarming Polska portfolio is less than 1 MW. Each project has a 15-year guarantee on the sale of energy in the auction system carried out by the Energy Regulatory Authority (URE) in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Almost all projects have already been completed and are already feeding into the public grid. SUNfarming Polska's portfolio includes projects that can be found across the country, most of the projects are located in Łódzkie, Wielkopolskie, Podlaskie and in the north-eastern part of Śląskie Voivodeship. In total, over 2 GW of photovoltaics were installed across Poland. The Polish market for ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants is mainly based on the auction system.

“We are very pleased that we have been able to conclude both loan agreements and that the Polish financial market has opened up for solar parks. The signing of both loan agreements is the culmination of the hard work of the entire team as well as the close collaboration with our experienced parent company. A big thank you also to the law firm Roedl & Partner from Gdansk and Luther Rechtsanwälte from Hamburg, who supported us in both loan transactions "- explains project manager of SUNfarming Polska, Anna Pilarczyk-Naprawski.

(Foto from left to right: Piotr Budzyniak, Martin Tauschke, Anna Pilarczyk, SUNfarming Polska)

“We are delighted that despite the restrictions associated with the corona pandemic, we are contributing to clean energy supplies in Poland with two additional megawatt PV systems. Despite the difficult communication, the professional and intensive cooperation of everyone involved made this possible", explains Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of SUNfarming GmbH and SUNfarming Polska sp.z.o.o..
The Polish auctioning system of procurement and an internal policy based on renewable energies allow SUNfarming as a medium-sized company to support the expansion of renewable energies and to make profitable investments in Poland. SUNfarming started the construction of the first 4 megawatt solar parks in Poland at the end of December 2018. By winning the tender, all PV parks benefit from a 15-year "contract for differences" with the Polish Energy Agency URE, which guarantees a fixed feed-in tariff for each kWh produced by paying the difference to the market price.
Photovoltaics is becoming increasingly important among renewable energy sources in Poland as it is the cheapest energy that can be obtained with existing technologies. In addition, the use of fallow land and soils with low soil quality spares agricultural arable land.

The two individual transactions are an extension of an existing line and an interim financing for the acquisition and installation of a dedicated portfolio, which has been implemented with a new partner.

EUR 12 million will be used to finance the construction of 17 MWp of new photovoltaic projects in Poland, which have already been awarded a contract from the 2018 auction and are to be built and connected to the grid by April 2020. An existing funding line was increased from EUR 20 million to EUR 25 million. This now revolving credit line is available to the SUNfarming Group for approx. 3 years and is an essential building block for the realization of new projects and thus for further growth in Poland.

"With the conclusion of these two new facilities, we want to continue our growth after a successful year in 2018 and significantly increase our Polish portfolio to at least 150 MWp over the next two years", says Martin Tauschke, Managing Director and co-shareholder of the SUNfarming Group.

The Polish government recently extended the completion deadline for projects from the 2018 auction to November 2020, which has increased the likelihood of realization of many projects. In addition, a further PV auction will take place in December 2019 with a tender volume of 750 MW of solar capacity. According to current statistics, about 1 GWp is installed in the Polish market, of which about 500 MW are outdoor projects in the auction.

With 46 MW of projects already installed and after completion of projects under construction, SUNfarming has a market share of nearly 10% of realized auction projects in Poland.

SUNfarming successfully completed seven new projects in the auction system. The latest projects are located in the provinces of Lower Silesia, Greater Poland, Lodz and Lublin. These are three 1-megawatt solar parks erected in the Lask district of Lódz, as well as four 1-megawatt investments in the provinces of Dolnoslaskie and Lubelskie. In line with the auction commitments, all seven solar parks started producing energy in June.

"We are happy about another 7 megawatts of clean energy for Poland. We thank all involved for the efficient and professional cooperation. With a planned PV capacity of 1.2 GW by 2020 with currently only about 360 MW of installed capacity, Poland represents an important future market for us, "said Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of SUNfarming GmbH and SUNfarming Polska sp.zoo.. "Further,we were able to secure 35 megawatt solar parks during the auction process in November; the planned investments are to be completed by the end of 2019 / beginning of 2020. However, we do not want to rely only on the Polish auction process, but also rely on PPA's (Power Purchase Agreements) for the development of larger projects, "explains Martin Tauschke.

The Polish auctioning system of procurement and an internal policy based on renewable energies allow SUNfarming as a medium-sized company to support the expansion of renewable energies and to make profitable investments in Poland. SUNfarming started the construction of the first 4 megawatt solar parks in Poland at the end of December 2018. By winning the tender, all PV parks benefit from a 15-year "contract for differences" with the Polish Energy Agency URE, which guarantees a fixed feed-in tariff for each kWh produced by paying the difference to the market price.

Photovoltaics is becoming increasingly important among renewable energy sources in Poland as it is the cheapest energy that can be obtained with existing technologies. In addition, the use of fallow land and soils with low soil quality spares agricultural arable land.

The SUNfarming Group has secured a financing framework of 20 million euros for the construction of 40 MWp photovoltaic projects in Poland.

SUNfarming Polska plans to expand the existing solar portfolio in Poland this year with projects to at least 40 MWp. Predominantly, projects will be realized with won auctions from 2017 and 2018.

The first projects to be financed through the acquired line are four photovoltaic plants, each with 1 MWp and a total capacity of 4 MWp, in Ostrołęka. All plants were put into operation in December 2018 and were awarded a contract in the first Polish test tender at the end of 2016.

Another part of the financing is planned for new projects with a total capacity of 5 MWp, which are already in the portfolio of SUNfarming. Three SUNfarming solar parks, each with 1 MWp, are to be built near Łask in Łódź Province, two more solar parks in the province of Lower Silesia near Ząbkowice Śląskie. These projects have won in the tender of June 2017, completion is until 30.06.2019. By winning the tender, all PV parks benefit from a 15-year "contract for differences" with the Polish Energy Agency URE, which guarantees a fixed feed-in tariff for each kWh produced by paying the difference to the market price.

The financing facility of 20 million euros, which was taken up by the SUNfarming Group, is used to finance the construction phase of the existing and planned photovoltaic projects of SUNfarming in Poland and was collateralised at the level of a Polish asset holding company owned by the project companies. SUNfarming was supported by a well-known Financial Advisor from Frankfurt am Main, who was tasked with structuring the transaction and debt sourcing.

"We are pleased to announce the closing of this transaction, which we completed within 6 weeks of the turn of the year. We thank all involved for the efficient and professional cooperation. The bridging line enables us to consistently implement our strategy in Poland and accelerate our international growth. With a planned PV capacity of 1.2 GW by 2020 with currently only about 360 MW of installed capacity, Poland represents an important future market for us, "says Martin Tauschke, Managing Director of SUNfarming GmbH and SUNfarming Polska sp.z.o.o.>