Soltech retains and further develops solar park portfolio which now exceeds 2,000 MWp
Soltech Energy's subsidiary Soltech Energy Solutions has chosen to retain and further develop the solar park portfolio for which the work of identifying investors began in July. The decision to retain the portfolio follows from the fact that the solar park projects today include qualified potential for more than 2,000 MWp, which is twice as much as in July 2023 when the ambition to divest the portfolio was communicated. As the major growth consists of projects in a relatively early phase, the timing for a divestment of the portfolio as a whole is no longer considered optimal, as a significant value potential lies in continued project development. Ongoing divestments of individual projects in later phases, and to various investors, will yield Soltech higher returns over time.
Over the past three years, Soltech Energy Solutions has established a business area with a focus on the development of solar park projects, which in most cases also include batteries. The project portfolio includes building rights and land agreements, with the majority of the projects in the development phase being located in the SE4 electricity grid area.
Soltech's focus when it comes to solar and battery parks is to develop projects, build and manage operation and maintenance. Not in owning the operational parks, with the exception of Soltech's own battery park in Falkenklev and the solar park in Öringe, which are currently being built and which will contribute with stable revenue streams for Soltech for a long time to come. Therefore, in July 2023, the process was initiated to find an investor with the ambition to become a long-term owner of the rest of the solar park portfolio, and together with Soltech, further develop the portfolio through exploration and, above all, construction.
The development of the portfolio has, of course, continued during the autumn of 2023, and not least the planning and qualification of new projects has been very efficient during the period. As a result, the portfolio now amounts to more than 2,000 MWp, of which approximately 750 MWp is under permitting approval. This means that a significant part of the portfolio's value is tied to future development, for which Soltech is not in direct need of increased financing. This also means that the mature projects that are in the phase close to construction, and which are best suited for divestment to external investors, now only constitute a small part of the portfolio.
In light of the development that took place during the autumn of 2023, Soltech no longer assesses that a divestment of a majority of the project portfolio, in a single transaction with one and the same investor, is the right way to maximize the value of the assets. Instead, the plan is to divest individual projects such as the solar park in Ramsjöholm that is already under construction, or smaller clusters of other projects, as they reach the right level of maturity. This gives Soltech the opportunity to retain future value potential through continued refinement of the early projects, while selective divestment of mature projects creates long and stable revenues over time from construction, operation, maintenance and support services such as large energy storage solutions.
– Soltech Energy Solutions has quickly built up a business area for solar parks that has a great financial value for the Group and which we now look forward to further developing over time together with several investors with different focuses in terms of degree of maturity and size of solar park projects. Our aim is that this will accelerate the green energy transition as well as Soltech's growth and profitability in both short and long term, says Stefan Ölander, CEO of Soltech Energy.
