BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners GP may buy solar-energy plants in Italy for an estimated $555 million to help propel the U.K. investment fund toward its targeted 15 percent annual return.
The first deals for three to five plants with a total of 100 megawatts of capacity are likely to close within weeks, Chief Executive Officer Joost Bergsma said in an interview, declining to give terms. The total cost to the London-based fund will be about 400 million euros ($555 million), Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Francesco D'Avack estimated.
While Germany is the world's largest market for power produced by solar panels, Italy is sunnier and needs more new generation capacity, Bergsma said. Italy, which imported about 13 percent of its electricity last year, pays premium prices for solar power.
Annual clean-energy sales will more than double over the next decade to about $1 trillion as governments seek to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and as the cost of low-carbon power falls, HSBC Plc analyst Nick Robins forecast last month. Europe will remain the biggest market for renewable power and equipment in 2020 with about 27 percent of global sales, HSBC said.
