Storage is now the price of entry into solar — the money is chasing hybrids.
Three data points this week make the same case from three angles: financing, delivery, and grid capacity.
What we’re tracking today:
Sonnedix closed €730m (~$841m) in financing for 540MW of solar PV plus two BESS assets across France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, backed by a nine-bank syndicate including Santander CIB, ING and Société Générale. Storage isn’t an add-on to European solar anymore — it’s the underwriting condition. https://lnkd.in/e-FYYcUi
Zelestra brought its Brazatortas 1, 2 and 4 solar plants in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain fully online, delivering ~130 GWh a year to Tesla under a 57MWac PPA. Corporate offtake keeps proving out as the fastest route to financial close in Iberia. https://lnkd.in/g-etjUeS
In South Africa, NTCSA flagged a R134bn (~€6.3bn) funding gap inside its R440bn transmission build-out — the grid capacity new wind, solar and BESS projects need to actually connect. Generation capital is available; transmission capital is the bottleneck. https://lnkd.in/gTqwhJQA
At Persimmon Investments, that’s the map we invest against: hybridised, bankable generation in Iberia, and the grid-and-storage gaps in Africa where patient capital still earns its premium.