• FRV has announced that its Royalla Solar Farm project, south of Canberra, achieved Financial Close on August 30 2013
• The project is being financed using both equity and a syndicated non-recourse project finance agreement with ANZ and National Australia Bank

“This important milestone follows the announcement in September 2012 by Australian Capital Territory Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, Simon Corbell, that FRV had been awarded a 20-year Feed-in Tariff entitlement for the project,” FRV (Australia) Country Manager Andrea Fontana said.

The engineering and construction, which will be carried out by Acciona Energy Oceania (AEO), will start next month and works will be finalised by the middle of next year.

The solar farm will create approximately 100 jobs during construction and when completed, generate enough electricity to power about 4500 Canberra homes. At the time of completion, Royalla will be one of the largest solar projects under operation in Australia.

“The timely achievement of financial close for our project represents an extremely important milestone for our organisation in Australia,” Mr Fontana said.

“The ACT Government’s Solar Auction program has been a great success, demonstrating that such schemes produce very competitive delivery of low emission renewable energy. Such schemes, along with the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target, are essential to progressing Australia toward a competitive low emission economy.”

Andrew Thomson, Managing Director of AEO said: “ACCIONA is one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies and is delighted to be partnering with FRV and providing engineering, construction and operational services on the Royalla Solar Farm project, a project that will deliver clean, renewable energy to the Canberra region.”

ANZ Global Head of Infrastructure and Utilities David Byrne said: “ANZ is very pleased to support our global clients, including FRV, in Australia’s first project financing of a utility-scale solar farm. ANZ has advised on or financed six renewables transactions in Australia this financial year, representing over 800MW of developments, demonstrating our continued support of clients in the renewables sector.”

Phillip Mak, Head of Energy & Utilities, NAB said: “NAB is proud to be Australia’s leading project financier of renewable energy projects. We are delighted to be a mandated lead arranger for the financing of the Royalla Solar Farm – the first utility-scale solar project in Australia to be project financed.”

FRV is a leading worldwide solar company with active presence in Australia, Africa (with special focus in South Africa and Sub-Saharan countries), the Middle-East, Europe and Latin America (where FRV has been awarded two projects with a total of 75 MW under advanced development in Uruguay).

Since 2006, the company has participated in the development of more than 1.5 GW, having completed the construction, operation, maintenance and financing of over 360 MW of photovoltaic and CSP solar energy plants.

With a world class team, FRV has successfully globally developed, financed and constructed solar projects around the globe representing more than USD 2 billion in total financings with more than 20 leading national and international banks.