Augusta & Co (“Augusta”) is proud to announce the sale by Ilmatar Energy (“Ilmatar”) of the Piiparinmäki construction-ready onshore wind farm, in central Finland to Glennmont Partners (“Glennmont”), one of Europe’s largest clean-energy fund managers. The ground-breaking project, set to become Finland’s largest wind farm, and one of the largest unsubsidised wind farms in Europe, represents Glennmont’s first investment in the Nordic market.
The project has secured a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Google, following the largest ever corporate purchase of renewable energy in September, in which the firm committed to 1.6GW of new agreements worldwide. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale will provide the senior debt package as sole underwriter. Augusta advised Ilmatar throughout its successful participation in Google’s tender process for long-term PPAs as well as on project finance.
Piiparinmäki, which is due to enter construction in October 2019, will be powered by 28 Vestas EnVentus V150-5.6MW and 13 V150-4.2MW wind turbines. Ilmatar will deliver the wind farm turnkey and continue to manage the technical and commercial operations of the wind farm once online.
Kalle Pykälä, Chairman of Ilmatar Windpower commented: “This landmark transaction is a successful vindication of Ilmatar Energy’s strategic decision to pursue a route to market for Piiparinmäki free of subsidy, and to focus instead on the innovative deployment of the new Vestas EnVentus platform backed by a Google PPA. Augusta has played a vital role in helping to deliver this vision across the equity, PPA and project finance processes.”
Simon Clement-Davies, Managing Director of Augusta, said: “It has been very rewarding to work with the entrepreneurial team at Ilmatar who are rapidly evolving into a leading independent Nordic development business. The sale of Piiparinmäki is a ground-breaking transaction, and we look forward to building on this successful relationship with further deals.”
Augusta acted as exclusive financial adviser to Ilmatar Energy, a joint venture between Finnish developer Ilmatar Windpower and Capenergie 3, a fund managed by Omnes, the Paris-based infrastructure fund.