Fotowatio's Renewable Ventures completes $200mn fund for solar projects

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Renewable Ventures, a Fotowatio company, announced the completion of Solar Fund V to finance more than $200 million of new solar energy projects across the United States.

The fund's first project is a two-megawatt solar photovoltaic project located in Ft. Collins, Colorado that will sell energy to Colorado State University and renewable energy credits to one of the state's utilities, Xcel Energy.

Solar Fund V, the fifth fund organized by Renewable Ventures and the first as Fotowatio's US-based subsidiary, reinforces the company's growth strategy in the United States. The fund will focus on the development and acquisition of commercial, public sector, and utility-scale solar projects from one to 10 megawatts in size.

"With this new infusion of capital, we stand ready to work with businesses, utilities and others to immediately finance, develop, or acquire megawatts of large-scale solar projects in the U.S.," said Renewable Ventures CEO Matt Cheney.

Solar Fund V is structured to include both debt from John Hancock (a unit of Manulife Financial Corp., and equity from Renewable Ventures and Wells Fargo, and will enable the construction and permanent financing of around 35 megawatts in the next year.

The combination of debt and equity enables the fund to seek a broader range of federal government incentives, improving project economics for prospective customers such as municipalities, universities, electric utilities and companies.

"Wells Fargo's and John Hancock's continued commitment to investing in renewable energy will allow us to replicate the success of our previous relationships," added Cheney. "Solar Fund V has been designed to use capital and incentives available under the stimulus program in a way that can accelerate the development of more solar projects and quickly create jobs in the US renewable energy sector."

"We are pleased to continue building our relationship through setting up this fund with Renewable Ventures," said Barry Neal, director of Environmental Finance at Wells Fargo. "Wells Fargo's commitment to clean energy and Renewable Ventures' development and operating experience together will help our nation take advantage of clean, renewable energy."

"John Hancock is proud to be working once again with Renewable Ventures, extending our partnership by helping to finance, develop, and deliver clean, renewable energy projects making a difference globally and to the communities we serve," said Jerry Hanrahan, Managing Director, at John Hancock.

The fund's first project, to be located at Colorado State University, will generate enough solar power to provide more than 10% of the electricity needs on the university's Foothills Campus. The 15-acre solar power plant is expected to be one of the largest solar installations at a US university when it is completed in 2009.