Alternus Energy shining through with diverse portfolio of photovoltaic solar parks across Europe

Owns and operates a diverse portfolio of photovoltaic (PV) solar parks across Europe 39 owned or contracted parks in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Poland Aims to own and operate over 2 GWs of solar parks by the end of 2025 What Alternus energy does: Alternus Energy PLC (NOTC:ALT) is a fast-growing international independent power producer (IPP), headquartered in Ireland, with a focus on the midsized utility solar PV market. The company owns and operates a diverse portfolio of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) parks that connect directly to national power grids on long-term government contracts - Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) - and/or power purchase agreements (PPA) with investment-grade off-takers. Having started in 2016 with two parks and 6 MWp capacity, the company's current portfolio consists of 39 owned or contracted parks in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Poland in excess of 150 MWp capacity. Currently, Alternus owns 25 solar PV Parks across Europe, with a total installed capacity of 30.5 MWp including its most recent acquisition. The company has contracted over 300 MWp of additional solar PV projects and has a current pipeline of over 1.2 GWp across Europe for potential acquisition in 2021. Alternus Energy works closely with both local and international specialist development partners that provide a constant pipeline of new projects, currently over 1.2 GWp, across Europe for acquisition. It aims to own and operate over 2 GWs of solar parks by the end of 2025. How is it doing: Alternus Energy has had a busy few months, adding to its portfolio and registering its shares on the Norwegian OTC-list after a fund-raising and delisting from the US OTC Market. On February 18, 2021, the company announced the acquisition of KKSOL S.r.l and its 557 kWp operational rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant located in the province of Acona in Italy.  This acquisition is the first of four parks being purchased from the same Italian seller and the company is in the process of completing the other three parks, expected in Q1 2021. Combined with Alternus Energy’s current acquisition programme, this will increase its operating capacity to over 140 MWp over the next few months. The total compensation for this acquisition is approximately €1.36 million after working capital adjustments, and the project will be financed from the proceeds raised in the successful placement of €110 million green bond fundraise in conjunction with the €27 million equity raise which was completed in December 2020. KKSOL S.r.l has been in operation since August 2012 and has produced over 2,300 MWh in the past four years. It benefits from a 20-year government counterparty Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) that guarantees a fixed sale price for every kWh of energy produced, of which there are just under 12 years left. Additionally, the park sells energy generated to the national grid on the wholesale energy market and will continue to do so beyond the FiT period. The project is expected to yield annual EBITDA margins of 91% and over 20% levered IRR returns.  Away from acquisitions, on January 11, 2021, Alternus Energy announced that it had registered its shares on the Norwegian OTC-list (Euronext NOTC), a market place for unlisted shares owned and operated by NOTC AS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oslo Børs ASA, from that date under the ticker 'ALT'. At the same time, the company said it had delisted from the US OTC Market. In a letter to shareholders on February 11, 2021, Alternus Energy CEO, Vincent Browne said the transfer was part of the group's funding process and to provide a platform to support the growth ambitions of the business. He said the company considered the Norwegian OTC-list a more suitable public platform for the business given its European activities and in line with the December green bond placement. Brown added that the company plans to move to the Euronext Growth Market as soon as possible during the first half of 2021 which he said is now more likely to be in Q2 2021 to allow for the completion of pending acquisitions in advance of such a move. On the financials front, on March 10, Alternus Energy reported a turn to positive EBITDA and strong revenue growth in its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2020 The company saw its full-year revenues increase by 77% year-on-year to €4.1 million in 2020, with Italy the largest revenue contributor at 41%, the Netherlands at 32%, and Romania 24% The group posted an EBITDA of €2.6 million as gross margins from operating parks almost doubled to €3.2 million, while corporate overhead costs reduced by 26%. Alternus Energy expects its EBITDA to increase to €18m in 2021 on completion of contracted acquisitions. Inflection Points: Completion of three further parks acquisitions from Italian seller Increase operating capacity to over 140 MWp over next few months Move listing to the Euronext Growth Market Build towards aim of operating over 2 GWs of solar parks by end of 2025 What the boss says: In his recent letter to shareholders, Alternus Energy CEO, Vincent Browne said: "Alternus ended 2020 very successfully, with the closing of €110 million in Green Bonds and an institutional led private placement of €27 million of equity – both arranged by Arctic Securities in Oslo – which closed in late December and settled at the beginning of January. These activities represent significant events for our company that the dedicated team at Alternus has been working towards for the past few years. "The quality of the institutional investors we now have as shareholders coupled with the planned public listing in Norway provides a solid financial platform for us to advance further the opportunity we have created and capture our share of the fast-growing solar market. We now have the capital structure and quality investor base to show the market that we are a strong and reliable partner, which will further advance our ongoing acquisition activities." Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com