Author: Bruc

Bruc reaches an agreement with Forestalia to acquire 2,000 MW of solar energy

January 20, 2021.- Bruc Energy, the company owned by Ontario Pension Trust (OPT) and Juan Béjar, has signed an exclusive agreement with Forestalia to acquire energy production plants with photovoltaic solar technology totaling 2,000 MW. The plants that are the object of the transaction are located in the provinces of Zaragoza and Terue (Aragón, Spain). All of them already have access to the transmission grid and are in administrative processing, following the terms and requirements of Royal Decree-Law 23/2020. Forestalia will continue to develop the facilities, which will be acquired by Bruc when they reach the “ready to build” status. This agreement has benn preceded by the purchase from Forestalia of seven photovoltaic solar power plants totaling 281 MW. The developments are located in the province of Zaragoza and are already in possession of the environmental impact statement. The start of construction works is scheduled for next spring. This is Bruc Energy’s third operation in a short period of time. The previous two were the closing of the financing of the “Las Quinientas”, a plan located in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), recently acquired from Solaer; and the agreement reached with Alter Enersun to jointly develop 500 MW. Bruc Energy is thus positioned as one of the most relevant and dynamic players in the solar energy sector in Spain. Juan Béjar, president of Bruc, describes the alliance between Bruc Energy and Forestalia as “one of the most relevant in the green energy sector due to its size and scope and because it combines Forestalia’s development capacities and Bruc’s financial ones”. And he adds: “It is an agreement that will create a lot of value for both parties and will contribute to continue developing the renewable energy sector in Spain”. Forestalia is a business group dedicated to renewable energies (wind, photovoltaic and biomass). The company was created in Zaragoza in 2011, taking advantage  of the extensive business experience of Fernando Samper Rivas, president and founder. From its Aragonese roots, Forestalia has grown with a clear national and international vocation. Forestalia’s current project portfolio exceeds six GW. In addition, it has already promoted nearly 2,000 MW of wind, solar and biomass technology. Bruc Energy is one of the investment vehicles of Bruc Management, a fund manager operating in the renewable energy sector. Although its first investments were located in Japan, where it has a portfolio of 60 MW, it has had a rapid development in Spain in recent months. Through its various inverter vehicles, Bruc already has more than one gigawatt (GW) in operation, under construction or under development in the Iberian Peninsula.   For more information: José Manuel Velasco (jmvelasco@brucmanagement.com)   +34 654315520

Bruc Energy acquires a 110 MW photovoltaic solar plant in Jerez and close its project finance

The renewable energy company owed by OPT and Juan Béjar acquires the facility from Solaer. Finances the operation with Banco Sabadell and gets an agreement to sell the energy through a ten-year PPA. The group’s asset portfolio totals more than 1,000 MW.   Madrid, January 14, 2020.-  Bruc Energy, the company owned by Ontario Pension Trust (OPT) and Juan Béjar, has closed with Banco Sabadell the financing of the photovoltaic solar power plant located in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz, Spain) with a power of 110 MW. It has also signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for a period of ten years. This facility was acquired at the end of 2020 from Solaer. The plant is located in the “Las Quinientas” property, with an area of ​​280 hectares, in the municipality of Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). The civil works phase began at the end of 2020 and during its construction it will employ 200 people. When it is finished and comes into operation, the plant, with an installed capacity of 110 MW, will be able to produce the energy needed to supply 68,000 homes and will avoid the emission of 42,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Bruc Energy has just closed the project finance provided by Banco Sabadell and a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with a multinational energy company for a period of ten years. This is the second operation carried out by Bruc Energy in just one month. At the end of December, Bruc Energy reached an agreement with Alter Enersun to buy 55% of 12 photovoltaic solar power plants totaling 550 MW. Both companies have created a new company called Bruc Alter Enersun, which will integrate these assets, all of them in the construction phase and advanced development in Andalusia and Extremadura. Bruc Energy is one of the investment vehicles of Bruc Management, a fund manager firm operating in the renewable energy sector. Although its first investments were located in Japan, where it has a portfolio of 60 MW, it has had a quick development in Spain in recent months. Through its various inverter vehicles, Bruc already has more than 1,000 MW in operation, under construction or under development in the Iberian Peninsula.   For more information: José Manuel Velasco- +34 654315520. jmvelasco@brucmanagement.com

Bruc Energy and Alter Enersun partner to develop 550 MW of photovoltaic solar energy

  The group, chaired by Juan Béjar, reached an agreement to buy 55% of 12 plants under construction and development in Andalusia and Extremadura.   December 30th.-  Bruc Energy has reached an agreement with Alter Enersun to buy 55% of 12 photovoltaic solar power plants, totalling 550 MW. Both companies have created a new company called Bruc Alter Enersun, which will integrate these assets, all of them in the construction phase and under advanced development in Andalusia and Extremadura. Alter will have 45% of the capital of this new company. The agreement is the result of the complementary strengths of the two companies and a long-term vision of the renewable energy production business in Spain. The new company will be led by Juan Béjar on behalf of Bruc and José Luis Morlanes on behalf of Alter Enersun. Bruc Alter Enersun will begin operations in March, with the first investment of the joint venture being a photovoltaic solar power plant called “Huelva 2021”, occupying 95 hectares in the municipality of Huelva. Its 113,000 solar panels have an installed capacity of 50 MW, which can produce 100 GWh per year, the typical consumption of 30,133 homes. It will avoid the emission of 18,735 tons of CO2 per year. Juan Béjar considers that this operation “consolidates Bruc as one of the key players in the green energy sector in Spain”. In his opinion, “the decarbonization of the economy is an environmental duty and at the same time an opportunity to attract investment and generate industrial employment.” José Luis Morlanes, for his part, highlights the strong growth rate of Alter Enersun, “which will now be accelerated by the agreement with Bruc Energy”. Alter’s CEO is committed to “collaboration between companies and with institutions to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those that pursue environmental sustainability.” Bruc Energy is one of the investment vehicles of Bruc Management, a fund manager operating in the renewable energy sector. Despite the fact that its first investments were located in Japan, where it has a portfolio of 60 MW, it has had a rapid development in Spain in recent months. With the operation carried out with Alter Enersun, Bruc already has around 1,500 MW in operation or under development in the Iberian Peninsula. Alter Enersun was established in 2009 with the vision of becoming one of the first benchmark companies in the renewable energy sector, specifically in the production of photovoltaic energy in the Iberian Peninsula. It currently has more than 140 roof and ground installations in Spain and Portugal and develops 1,000 MW photovoltaic and wind power, of which 50% will begin construction before the end of 2021. For further information, please contact José Manuel Velasco jmvelasco@brucmanagement.com +34 654315520

Bruc and Solarpack open a 100 MW photovoltaic plant in Extremadura

Bruc Iberia Energy Investment Partners, a renewable energy investment fund manager, and Solarpack Corporación Tecnológica (“Solarpack”), a Getxo-based solar photovoltaic (PV) multinational, today opened a 100-MW PV plant in Alvarado-La Risca, Badajoz (Extremadura)

More light on the Sustainable Development Goals

  At the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in New York in September 2019, world leaders called for a decade of action and results for progress and sustainability. Along with the call to action, they promised to “mobilize funding, improve implementation at the national level and strengthen institutions to achieve the SDG by the scheduled date, 2030, leaving no one behind.” A year later, the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to delay the achievement of the SDG. In fact, for the first time since 1998, poverty rates will rise as the world economy enters recession and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) drops sharply. The ongoing crisis will reverse almost all the progress made in the last five years. According to World Bank, between 40 million and 60 million people will fall into extreme poverty (living on less than $ 1.90 a day) in 2020, compared to 2019 figures, as a result of the economic impact caused by the SARS-CoV 2 coronavirus. The world extreme poverty rate could increase between 0.3 and 0.7 %, reaching around 9% of the population at the end of 2020. The second wave we are experiencing nowadays it may worsen these forecasts. The SDGscan be summarized, like the ten commandments, in one: improve coexistence between humans and between them and their natural environment. Although eradicating hunger appears as Goal 2, it should be the first, because the first manifestation of poverty is, precisely, the difficulty to nurture properly. Feeding 7.8 billion people (8,500 in 2030, according to United Nations projections) is a great agricultural, livestock, logistical and environmental challenge. Poverty also has an energy dimension. SDG 7 aims to ensure access to affordable, safe, sustainable and modern energy. The United Nations points out in its formulation that “it is necessary to pay greater attention to improvements for access to clean and safe cooking fuels, and to technologies for 3,000 million people, to expand the use of renewable energy beyond the electricity and increase electrification in sub-Saharan Africa ”. According to the UN, “the lack of access to energy can hamper efforts to contain COVID-19 in many parts of the world.” Energy services are essential to provide electricity supply to health establishments and clean water for essential hygiene, up to allowing communications and information technology services that allow people to connect while maintaining social distance. It is paradoxical that energy poverty and the need to decarbonise the economy to slow the advance of climate change coincide with a period of great financial liquidity. If capital does not flow fast enough towards an activity that is not only in demand, but also appears essential for the sustainability of human progress, it is because there are obstacles or brakes to investment. These retarders are national energy laws, which should be revised under the SDG rather than the heat of the interests of the dominant operators, which are those that still burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. On SDG Day, our responsibility as citizens is to do everything possible to achieve the goals set as soon as possible. Let’s take the pandemic as a serious wake-up call and focus the light on the sectors and activities that can most quickly produce a turnaround.

The great green opportunity of the European funds

  Renewable or non-polluting energy will concentrate an important stake of the resources that the governments of the European Union have agreed to face the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We still do not know what percentage of the 750,000 million approved for the recovery plan and the 1,074 billion euros of the budget for the next seven years will be used to fight climate change through an improvement in energy infrastructure and efficiency programs. This percentage will depend on the projects that the countries bid to access direct aid and financing. Spain will receive 140,000 million euros, ten times the amount of cohesion funds that allowed the country to catch up with its European partners in the 90’s. Of this amount, 72,700 will be direct aid, that is, they will not have to be repaid, and the rest will be received as loans. The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that he will implement “the National Plan for Reforms, a plan of investments to a growing, green, digital and inclusive transformation, also pouring economic resources into science, vocational training and into education”. The country has a great opportunity to advance in the energy transition, a true bridgehead for the decarbonisation of the economy, essential to curb climate change. Spain has the necessary resources to take advantage of this great opportunity: renewable sources, mainly solar and wind; the technology necessary to build a more efficient generation park; the knowledge accumulated from the first years of the renewable energy boom; and the essential financial resources to make the projects a reality. The main obstacle – and almost the only – that the industry faces is the regulation. As Juan Béjar, president of Bruc Management, recently wrote in El Confidencial, the regulation has to solve two major disincentives: “The first is the slowness in the process of deploying networks and interconnection points and obtainment of the different permissions, a situation that has worsened in the last three years. The second and deepest is price. The fall in demand caused by the pandemic, together with the existing pricing system, have caused a drop in the remuneration of the generation of more than 50%. An extraordinary fall that, as a matter of fact, has not benefited the final consumers, trapped by a complex system of tariffs, powers and tolls, but has however remained in the pockets of the large marketers ”. Given the great opportunity presented by European funds and the draft bill on Climate Change and Energy Transition, the Spanish regulator must hurry to convert these disincentives into incentives that promote the solid advance of green energy and, as a direct consequence, employment creation.

Bruc acquires 50MW solar project from Alter Enersun and increases its portfolio to over 700 MW.

  Madrid, May 27, 2020.- Bruc, the renewable energy group chaired by Juan Béjar, has purchased from Alter Enersun a photovoltaic solar energy plant located in Huelva. The 50 MW plant is already in operation. This facility brings Bruc portfolio in operation or under construction to more than 700 MW. The transaction with Alter Enersun has been carried out through one of Bruc Management’s investment vehicles in Spain. The deal has amounted to 41.5 million euros and is part of Bruc growth strategy to achieve a relevant position in the green energy industry in Spain The acquired plant is called “Huelva 2020” and occupies 95 hectares in the Huelva municipality of Gibraleón. Its 133,056 solar panels amount to an installed power capacity of 50 MW, which can produce 98 GWh per year, which means the consumption of 30,133 homes. It will avoid the emission of 18,735 tons of CO2 per year. The plan is subject to the auction regime with a guaranteed price. Bruc is an investment fund manager in the renewable energy sector that currently has investments in photovoltaic assets in Spain and Japan. Despite the fact its first investments were made in Japan, where it has a 70 MW portfolio, it has had a rapid development in Spain in recent months. With the operation carried out with Alter Enersun, it now totals 640 MW in operation or under development in the Iberian Peninsula. Alter Enersun, led by the CEO José Luis Morlanes, was constituted in 2009 with the vision of becoming one of the first companies in the sector of renewable energy, specifically in the production of photovoltaics on rooftops of public buildings. Preferably in Extremadura, Catalunya, Andalucia and Murcia. It currently has 140 facilities in Spain and Portugal and it is developing 1,000 MW in wind and photovoltaic energy.

Climate change draft law, first round

  It is obvious that the first primary energy source in Spain is the sun, ahead of wind and water. The objectives set out in the bill on climate change and ecological transition, approved by the Spanish Government on Tuesday, May 19, cannot be met without a highly relevant development of solar energy. The bill establishes the following objectives for the year 2030: – A 20% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to 1990. – 35% of final energy consumption must come from renewable sources – 70% of electricity generation must come from green energy. – To improve by 35% the efficiency of primary energy consumption. – Declaration of low emissions zones in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. The text has 36 articles distributed in nine titles. It is the result of a process of review and public participation started in February 2019. According to the Government’s text sent to the Parliament, it includes reports from the relevant institutions linked to environment (Consejo Asesor del Medio Ambiente) , national climate (Consejo Nacional del Clima), climate change coordination (Comisión de Coordinación de Políticas de Cambio Climático), the sectorial conference of Spanish autonomous communities (Conferencia Sectorial con las Comunidades Autónomas), the National Comission of Markets and competition (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) and the State Counsil (Consejo de Estado), among other institutions. The document approved by the council of ministers now begins its parliamentary procedure. Given current fragmentation in the Congress of Deputies and the enormous difficulties that the socialist group has in reaching parliamentary majorities, it is likely that the draft law will be subject to relevant modifications during its approval procedure, although initially the Government is not forgo its main goal that Spain becomes a carbon neutral country by 2050 . Through the parliamentary procedure, the political groups must clear the main question of the project: its financing. The text generically points to a “new remuneration framework for renewable generation, based on the long-term recognition of a fixed price for energy”, which aims to offer “predictability and stability of income to the sector”. The new remuneration framework will be granted “through auctions in which the product to be auctioned will be electric energy, installed power or a combination of both, and the variable which will be offered should be the price of remuneration for said energy”. It will distinguish between different generation technologies based on their technical characteristics, manageability levels, location criteria, technological maturity and those others that guarantee the transition to a decarbonised economy. Predictability and stability are not precisely the terms that can be applied to the background of Spanish regulation regarding energy industry. The renewable energy sector needs this proclaimed predictability to be transformed into legal certainty, in such a way that it provides a stable framework and a reasonable return on investments that, given the nature of the sector, requires a long-term perspective. The climate change and ecological transition law is a new opportunity for the regulator, industry, lenders, investors, and consumers to find the necessary point of neutrality.

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