Nippon Solar Services, operator for investments made by Sonnedix in Japan, closes financing for 33 MW Oita solar PV power plant

About Us
8 December, 2015

Tokyo, Japan – For immediate release

Sonnedix is pleased to announce that its operator in Japan, Nippon Solar Services (NSS) has closed long-term project financing of the 33 megawatts (MW) ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) Oita power plant in Kyushu region in Japan. ING Bank is underwriting the financing for a total amount of JPY12.1 billion.

The commencement of construction is scheduled for the first quarter of 2016 with operations starting in 2018, both of which will be managed by NSS. Engineering, procurement and construction is being undertaken by LG CNS Japan. The plant uses solar panels manufactured by LG and inverters by Toshiba-Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation (TMEIC).

“Sonnedix has successfully worked with ING Bank to finance solar projects in our portfolio in Europe, and we are pleased to see a similar relationship forming between our Japanese operator, NSS, and ING Bank.” said Franck Constant, President of Sonnedix.

Commenting on the closing, Olivier Renon, Managing Director of Nippon Solar Services stated “This is our largest financial closing to date in Japan and a considerable milestone for our company. We want to thank all the advisors involved in this transaction for their support. We are looking forward to closing more financings of this type for our current pipeline of utility-scale solar PV projects in Japan in the months to come.”

Erwin Maspolim, ING Bank’s Head of Utilities & Infrastructure Asia, said “The Oita solar PV project will be an excellent addition to ING Bank’s global renewable financing portfolio. We are especially honored to support NSS in one of the longest tenor solar PV project financing by a foreign bank in Japan. We are positive about the growth of solar PV projects in Japan and other Asian countries and we hope to further expand our business in this area.”

The following advisors have been appointed by Nippon Solar Services and the lenders:

Legal: Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Linklaters and Kanagawa International Law Office

Technical: Vector Cuatro

Financial model and tax: PWC & KPMG

Insurance: AON

About Sonnedix

Sonnedix is an Independent Solar Power Producer (IPP) with a proven track record in delivering high performance cost competitive solar photovoltaic plants to the market. Sonnedix develops, builds, owns and operates solar power plants globally. Sonnedix currently owns over 100 MW photovoltaic power plants in operation as well as several hundreds of MW in development in Italy, France, Spain, USA/Puerto Rico, Thailand, Chile, South Africa and Japan. For more information about Sonnedix, please visit www.sonnnedix.com.

About Nippon Solar Services

Nippon Solar Services is a developer, asset manager, and operator of mega-solar projects in Japan, and the trusted Japanese operator for investments made by Sonnedix. For more information about Nippon Solar Services, please visit www.nipponsolarservices.com.