Plenium Partners, an independent Spanish investment group, focused on renewable energy, energy transition, circular economy, and social infrastructure, announces today the securement of funding for its first biomethane plant in Italy. ING Italia has provided more than €25 million financing through a bilateral Project Finance.
This is the first plant of a wider portfolio comprising three more biomethane assets across Italy, whose operation agreement was closed last July, in partnership with Aragorn Value Leadership. This plant is located in northern Italy, in the region of Lombardy, Pavia province. The plant is in an advanced stage of construction, with prospects of beginning operations in the first quarter of 2026. This first plant has successfully participated in the 3rd biomethane tariff auction organized by GSE, the renewable premium manager in Italy.
The plant will help improve waste management in the area, processing around 50,000 tons annually of livestock and agricultural waste. The contribution to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction will be significantly higher than average, being the plant one of the few biomethane plants in Italy with full recovery of the CO2.
Commitment to the development of clean energy in Italy
The inception of this project dates back to July of last year, with Plenium Partners, together with Italian developer Aragorn Value Leadership, launched a new platform initially focused on the construction and operation of four biomethane plants located in different parts of Italy, for which an investment exceeding €100 million was made. This transaction was carried out through Plenium Partners’ Ecualia Capital fund and marked a significant step in its commitment to sustainability, renewable energy, and the development of new projects in this country.
Plenium Partners has an extensive investment track record in Italy, with offices in Rome since 2010 and a current operational portfolio in the country comprising more than 35 PV projects. This financing represents an important step in the strategy of diversification and expansion in key European markets, where Plenium Partners sees great potential for growth and sustainable development. Plenium Partners is making a strong commitment to the biomethane market in Italy and intends to continue growing with new opportunities beyond this platform.
This financing confirms ING's leading role in supporting the development of renewable energy in Italy and in accelerating the global transition to a low-carbon economy. These ambitions are in line with the bank's Growing the Difference strategy, which has set itself the goal of mobilizing €150 billion of sustainable finance by 2027 and tripling renewable energy financing to €7.5 billion per year by 2025, compared to €2.5 billion in 2022.
Great growth prospects in Europe
The development of biomethane projects is gaining strong prominence in Europe and is becoming a focal point for large investors. These types of assets allow for the valorisation of organic waste such as manure, agricultural waste, food waste and sewage sludge, transforming them into a clean energy source, while also reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, decreasing soil and water pollution. Additionally, these types of plants contribute to the diversification of energy sources and reduce dependence on fossil fuels such as natural gas.
With the implementation of projects like this one, the social and economic development of rural areas, where these plants are usually located, is fostered through the creation of direct and indirect jobs in construction, operation, and maintenance. Likewise, these assets allow for additional income generation for farmers and livestock owners, who can sell their organic waste to the biomethane plants.
Advisors
Legance Avvocati Associati (Borrower/Legal), BonelliErede (Lender/Legal), EY-Parthenon (Commercial), Fichtner (Technical), PCA Broker (Insurance), PwC (Model Audit).
About Plenium Partners
Founded in Spain in 2007, Plenium Partners is an independent Spanish investment group, a leader in renewable energy, energy transition, circular economy, and social infrastructure, with more than EUR 7.5 billion invested in sustainable assets and companies. The firm employs more than 300 professionals with multidisciplinary profiles and invests third-party and own funds. The company's value-added principles are its industrial capabilities and active management of its projects and investee companies.
Plenium Partners manages one of the largest portfolios of operational renewable assets in Europe, with more than 2GW combining photovoltaic solar energy, wind, hydroelectric, and solar thermal energy. The group's investments are diversified within the infrastructure sector, including district heating networks, biomethane, self-consumption and distributed generation solutions, student residences, waste management and recycling, and other types of infrastructure assets.
About ING
ING is a Dutch-born bank with a presence in 100 countries with over 40 million customers and 60,000 employees. It offers products and services to savers, large enterprises and financial institutions (www.ing.com). It has been present in Italy since 2001 with Retail Banking activities and has been a pioneer in digital banking to become today one of the leading digital banks in the country in terms of number of customers. Since 1979 it has been operating in Italy with the Wholesale Banking (www.ingwb.com) activities where it is a leader in specialized finance and financial markets and counts on an extensive global network, with a main focus on Europe. Differentiating customer experience and sustainability at the heart of its activities are the two pillars of ING's strategy. Financial solidity (CET1 ratio 14.3% as at 30/09/24) and excellent asset quality (NPL ratio 1.7% as at 31/12/24) complete the picture
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