PowerField sees rapid growth for sustainable and innovative energy solutions by raising circa €500 million

DLA Piper has advised PowerField in connection with both the equity financing of the PowerField Group as well as the debt financing of a number of solar, EV charging and storage assets.

Today, PowerField and Van Lanschot Kempen announce the capital raise of circa €500 million in structured equity and portfolio financing, enabling PowerField to add significant scale and realise its sustainability ambitions. PowerField will use the funds to continue building an integrated platform where solar parks, EV charging stations and batteries work together in a complementary manner to contribute to a more sustainable and habitable world. PowerField has built a robust and actionable pipeline across its three verticals consisting of 2 Gigawatt in solar projects, 15,000 EV charging stations and over 400 MWh in battery storage projects. The majority of its assets are in the Netherlands, though the company is expanding into multiple European countries. 

PowerField is a leading solar park developer that is expanding towards becoming an independent power producer. The company has almost 300 MWp of operational and ready-to-build solar projects in the Netherlands and where possible PowerField will install co-located batteries to ensure optimal use of the grid capacity in congested areas. This solution allows the excess energy produced by a solar park to be stored in a battery to address the capacity challenges of the Dutch electricity grid. In addition to the solar and battery business, PowerField is a strong emerging player in the EV (fast) charging industry through its subsidiary PowerGo, with over 650 charging stations operational and a portfolio of strong contracts and leads in the Netherlands and throughout Europe.

Jean-Louis Bertholet, CEO of PowerField, said: “Our goal is to build the largest virtual power plant in Europe where we will combine solar power, battery storage and EV charging assets. We are delighted to welcome both EIG and LBBW on this journey and are pleased to have found two partners that support our ambitions and share our strong commitment to the renewable energy transition.”

Walid Mouawad, Managing Director and Head of European Power & Renewables at EIG said: “PowerField is a leader in the energy transition sector and our partnership will support the Netherlands’ climate change commitments with a unique combination of zero carbon electricity, storage and EV charging infrastructure. We are thrilled to help realise the company’s growth potential, taking the necessary steps towards a clean energy future.”

The non-recourse structure, provided by LBBW as Sole Lead Arranger and Facility Agent, consists of a common terms’ agreement designed to finance 500 MWp of solar plants within the next few years. On 30 January 2023 financial close has taken place for the first 120 MWp. In addition, there is an accordion facility with pre-agreed terms for future solar projects.

Pieter Paul Terpstra and Gerard Kneppers, partners in our corporate respectively project finance teams, comment: “We are delighted to have been legal adviser to PowerField on this landmark transaction, both for them and the energy transition sector they are active in. It is a testament to DLA Piper’s unparalleled offering in the renewable energy space.”

The DLA Piper team is led by Amsterdam-based corporate/M&A partner Pieter Paul Terpstra and project finance partner Gerard Kneppers, assisted by Cathelijn Frederiks, Arjen de Snoo, Danielle van Berkel, Stefanie Postema, Flip Kaptein, Lindsey Huberts, Alexander Bodar and Jocelyn van Moergastel. Cross-practice teams from several other DLA Piper offices were also involved in the transaction.