Talanx buys another solar farm in Spain

European insurance group The Talanx Group is buying another solar park in Spain. The seller is BayWa r.e., a company of the BayWa Group, Munich, to whom Talanx had transferred operational management of its onshore wind farm portfolio in June 2019.

The 50 MWp (megawatt-peak) solar farm is located near Seville in Spain and will be connected to the power grid at the beginning of this year, supplying electricity to some 30,000 households.

Just like the Spanish solar park Bienvenida, which Talanx bought in December 2019, this park is one of the first subsidy-free solar farms in Europe. By making this move Talanx – in keeping with its corporate sustainability strategy – continues to expand its alternative investments and diversify its asset portfolio. The group is now reaping the benefits of both solar and wind power and guarantees sustainable energy production.

"We are delighted to be purchasing this solar farm from our cooperation partner BayWa r.e. This underscores our very good cooperation to date," said Dr Peter Brodehser, head of infrastructure investments at Talanx. "Through the transfer of ownership of the solar farm we now have as well the opportunity to participate directly in the development of this business. Furthermore, we are diversifying our risk by investing in alternative assets."

Benedikt Ortmann, global director of solar projects at BayWa r.e., added: "With our third completely subsidy free solar farm Don Rodrigo 2 we again demonstrated that solar power is the cheapest form of energy production. We are happy to sell this solar park to Talanx, which has a clear focus on alternative investments. This will deepen our partnership in the field of solar energy."

Talanx has so far made available some €220 million in debt capital for financing solar farms and holds equity investments in onshore wind power projects with a total output of 300 MW. "After the purchase of the Spanish solar park Bienvenida in December 2019, we are now investing again in a solar park and building up this asset class – as a complementary asset class to wind," explained Brodehser. "Especially the Spanish solar parks are an excellent alternative to our onshore windparks due to the high solar radiation. This involvement will also help Talanx to achieve the strategic objective that the company has set itself of doubling its investments in infrastructure and renewables over the coming years to €5 billion.”

Altogether, the group – which signed up to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in November and thereby committed itself to sustainable investing activities – has already invested more than €2.2 billion in infrastructure and renewables – including more than €1.3 billion directly in renewable energy sources (wind and solar). Within the German insurance industry it thus ranks among the leading investors and operators of renewable energy installations. The updated sustainability strategy of the Talanx Group envisages that from 2019 onwards it will operate with a net zero carbon footprint in Germany, become a leading insurer of renewable energy sources and – by 2038 – withdraw entirely from coal-based risks.

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