Taaleri SolarWind III Fund invests in a 154 MW wind farm in Serbia

TAALERI ENERGIA          PRESS RELEASE          23 SEPTEMBER 2024 AT 18:53 (EEST)

Taaleri SolarWind III Fund invests in a 154 MW wind farm in Serbia

The Čibuk 2 wind farm in Serbia, located approximately 50 kilometres east of Belgrade, was part of the development seed portfolio that was transferred to the Taaleri SolarWind III Fund (the “Fund”) at its first close. The Fund and Masdar, the United Arab Emirates’ clean energy leader, are joint owners of the project.

The project has reached Ready-to-Build status, with construction work having started in Q3 2024. The wind farm is expected to reach full operational status in Q1 2026. The Čibuk 2 wind farm will consist of 22 Nordex 7.0 MW turbines and will share the same grid connection point as the operating Čibuk 1 wind farm, a Taaleri SolarWind I Fund investment. The wind farm’s annual electricity production will be approximately 330 GWh. It will produce enough green electricity to supply around 62,000 households and will enable approximately 311,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide reductions during each year of operation.

The project was developed by Masdar Taaleri Generation, a joint venture between Masdar and Taaleri Energia, in partnership with New Energy Solutions, one of the leading local developers in Serbia. Nordex will provide operations and maintenance services for the project under a 35-year contract with availability guarantees.

Senior debt will be provided by UniCredit and Erste Bank. A substantial majority of the power produced by the wind farm will be hedged with a euro-based, inflation indexed Contract for Differences with EPS, the state-owned power company in Serbia.

“Our investment in the neighbouring Čibuk 1 wind farm in 2017 has proven to be a success. The quality of the project development of the Čibuk 2 wind farm, and the financing, offtake and turbine package that we have secured, gives us confidence that we will be able to repeat that success with the Taaleri SolarWind III Fund.” says Taaleri Energia Managing Director, Kai Rintala.

“The successful conclusion of financing for Čibuk 2 is another landmark in the development of renewable energy capacity in Serbia, a strategic market for Masdar as we expand into Central and Eastern Europe. Today’s announcement is a testament to investor confidence in the development of renewable energy in Serbia. Masdar plans to increase its investments in the region and we look forward to further strong support from the investment community.” says Masdar Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi.

This operation benefits from support from the European Union under the InvestEU Fund.

About the Taaleri SolarWind III Fund

The Taaleri SolarWind III Fund’s investment strategy is to acquire, develop, contract, construct, operate and exit a portfolio of utility scale onshore wind farms, photovoltaic solar parks and battery storage assets across the Fund’s target markets. The Fund’s base case target return is net 10% IRR and the Manager case is net 14%+. The Fund will distribute an annual cash yield of 4-7% after the end of the investment period. 

The Fund currently owns 60 projects, representing c. 6 GW in net generation capacity, which is approximately four times as many projects as the Fund will construct. Based on the portfolio, we expect to invest c. 50% of the Fund in the Nordics & Baltics, c. 25% in Poland & Southeast Europe, c. 15% in Spain and c. 10% in Texas.

The Fund had its first close in June 2023 and has to-date made investment commitments totalling c. EUR 190 million. The Taaleri SolarWind III Fund has a target size of EUR 600 million, with a hard cap of EUR 900 million. The Fund will remain open to new investors until June 2025.

The Taaleri SolarWind III Fund is a so-called “Dark Green” Fund classified as an Article 9 Fund under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which means that the fund has a sustainability objective and makes sustainable investments. The renewable energy power and storage plants that the Fund will construct will generate green electricity for around 1.3 million households, reduce an estimated 2.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, reduce air pollution, improve grid infrastructure, create local employment, generate local and state tax revenues and increase energy security.

The Fund’s investors include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Fund, KBC Verzekeringen (in partnership with EIF), Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Taaleri and the Taaleri Energia team. Finnish pension funds, foundations, endowments, family offices and individual investors are also strong supporters of the Fund, investing through a fund managed by Aktia Bank.

About Taaleri Energia

Taaleri Energia is a renewable energy fund manager with one of the largest dedicated renewables investment teams in Europe. The team manages a 9.3 GW wind, solar and battery storage portfolio in Europe and the US.

Taaleri Energia is ranked as a “Consistent Top Performing Infrastructure Manager” by Preqin.

Taaleri Energia is part of the Taaleri Group, which is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.

www.taalerienergia.com/en

For more information, please contact:

Kai Rintala, Managing Director, Taaleri Energia, +358 40 162 5711, kai.rintala@taaleri.com

Stephen Ross, Head of Investor Relations, Taaleri Energia, +358 40 733 7789, stephen.ross@taaleri.com

About Masdar

Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) is one of the world’s fastest-growing renewable energy companies. As a global clean energy pioneer, Masdar is advancing the development and deployment of solar, wind, geothermal, battery storage and green hydrogen technologies to accelerate the energy transition and help the world meet its net-zero ambitions. Established in 2006, Masdar has developed and invested in projects in over 40 countries with a combined capacity of over 20 gigawatts (GW), providing affordable clean energy access to those who need it most and helping to power a more sustainable future.

Masdar is jointly owned by TAQA, ADNOC, and Mubadala, and is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of 100GW by 2030 while aiming to be a leading producer of green hydrogen by the same year.