IBERDROLA NUNEZ DE BALBOA PV

The project consists of the financing of the Nunez de Balboa photovoltaic (PV) Plant (391 MWac) located in the Spanish region of Extremadura.

The proposed operation aims at financing a 426 MW solar PV plant in the Spanish region of Extremadura (convergence region). As requested by the client, the operation will be labeled as EIB Green Loan, as it is fully eligible under the Climate Awareness Bond (CAB) programme. Iberdrola is one of the most relevant players in the Green Bond market and has for long time requested the EIB to provide green labelling to its financial toolkit whenever possible, given the Bank's very high standards in terms of environmental protection and climate action as well as its prominent role in the Sustainable Financing market via the CAB programme. The operation will be structured as a senior loan to Iberdrola Financiación S.A., the financial subsidiary of the Group, with a parent guarantee provided by Iberdrola S.A., in line with previous operations with the counterpart.

The plant and its ancillary infrastructure (including the 12km EHV transmission line) are included in the Annex II of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (Directive 2014/52/EU amending the EIA Directive 2011/92/EU), being screened in by the competent authority. Therefore, an EIA had to be performed. The projects, including the extra high voltage (EHV) transmission line, have already obtained the necessary environmental authorisation (Resolucion de la direccion General de Calidad y Evaluacion Ambiental y Medio Natural) in November 2017. The authorisation procedure and compliance with EU EIA, Birds and Habitats directives will be assessed in detail at the appraisal, in particular for what concerns cumulative impacts and impacts on protected flora and fauna, including any Natura 2000 site. The project site land (of approximately 943 Hectares) has been already fully secured through a 25-year lease agreement, whereas land acquisition process of the land required for the transmission line is awaiting a Declaration of Public Utility by the relevant authority and expropriation may be needed. Land acquisition procedures will be further assessed at appraisal, to ensure full compliance with the Bank's Environmental and Social Standards. The main commercial risk for the project will be the uncertainty on the revenues, which will depend on: (i) the final terms and conditions of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), (ii) the residual exposure to the wholesale market prices and (iii) the intrinsic uncertainty associated with the production of PV plants. Those elements will be assessed in detail at the appraisal. Other risks, to be further assessed at the appraisal, will be: (iv) delay during implementation (v) environmental risks connected with a project of such extension

The promoter is a public utility operating in a liberalised market and the project has not applied to any subsidy or participated in renewable energy auctions and, therefore the project is subject to a private procurement regime. The public tenders for the supply of the main equipment and services have been already ran and awarded. The Bank will require the promoter to ensure that contracts for the implementation of the project have been tendered in accordance with the relevant applicable EU procurement legislation, Directive 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU, where applicable, as well as Directive 92/13/EEC, as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with the publication of tender notices in the Official Journal of the EU, as and where required. The project has almost completed its permitting phase: the Construction Permits have been obtained from the competent municipalities in June and July 2018, whereas the Administrative Authorisation (Autorizacion Administrativa de Costruccion y Declaracion de Utilidad Publica) is expected by the end of 2018. The project has also been granted grid connection pre-authorisation (contestacion de acceso y remision) in May 2018. As for the environmental aspects, the plant and its ancillary infrastructure (including the 12km EHV transmission line) are included in the Annex II of the EIA Directive (Directive 2014/52/EU amending the EIA Directive 2011/92/EU), being screened in by the competent authority. Therefore, an EIA had to be performed. The projects, included the EHV transmission line, have already obtained the necessary environmental authorisation (Resolucion de la direccion General de Calidad y Evaluacion Ambiental y Medio Natural) in November 2017. The authorisation procedure and compliance with EU EIA, Birds and Habitats directives will be assessed in detail at the appraisal, in particular for what concerns cumulative impacts and impacts on protected flora and fauna, including any Natura 2000 site.