Quercus Real Assets, a European renewable energy specialist, and Elionia, the renewable investment arm of a European family office with roots in the shipping sector, have completed financing for three greenfield biomethane plants in northern Italy.
The funding, worth €76 million, was arranged through their joint venture QGM with the backing of a banking consortium comprising BNL BNP Paribas, Banco BPM and Mediocredito Centrale.
SACE, the state-controlled insurance and financial group, will guarantee half of the facility.
The three plants form the first stage of a planned portfolio of over 20 similar projects in the region.
Construction is due to be completed within ten months, with the facilities set to operate using agricultural by-products and animal manure.
Quercus co-founder and chief executive Diego Biasi and Elionia co-founder and chief executive Danilo Fumarola said the initiative builds on experience from 2013, when Quercus developed an anaerobic digestion facility in East London in partnership with the UK’s Green Investment Bank.
They expressed confidence that the biomethane sector will grow alongside traditional renewable electricity generation, combining “electrons and biofuel molecules” in the future energy mix.
Quercus and Elionia secure €76m financing for biomethane plants in northern Italy
