LONDON, UK: Foresight Solar Fund Limited, a fund investing in a diversified portfolio of ground-based solar PV and battery storage assets in the UK and internationally, has acquired the remaining 51% interests in the Oakey 1 (30 MW) and Longreach (17 MW) solar farms in Queensland, Australia.
The Company had acquired a 49% stake in each farm in December 2017 and has acquired the remaining 51% in each from Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ). The total equity consideration for the remaining stakes in the two assets is equivalent to approximately 1% of the fund’s latest NAV.
Both assets are fully operational and the increase to 100% ownership provides the Company with full management control over future optimisation initiatives.
The assets currently have senior debt facilities in place from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd (“MUFG”) and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (“CEFC”). The senior debt facilities expire in April 2022 and are expected to be refinanced during the first quarter of 2022.
Both Longreach and Oakey 1 benefit from Power Purchase Agreements (“PPAs”) for the sale of electricity and Large-scale Generation Certificates (“LGCs”) with the Queensland Government. These are under a contract-for-difference structure for a period of 20 years from the date of commissioning, delivering a highly contracted revenue level of operational cash flows.
This acquisition further strengthens the Company’s international portfolio, while the highly contracted revenue profile of the assets will increase the predictability of the Company’s portfolio cash flow generation in the medium and long-term.