Crédit Agricole CIB completes its first fishery-solar financing project in Taiwan

New Green Power (NGP) is a leading solar developer and operator in Taiwan, wholly owned by BlackRock’s Infrastructure business, with a diverse solar portfolio of operational and under-construction assets that span across ground-mounted, floating, and rooftop technologies.

Following the successful financing of 82 megawatt (MW) solar portfolio that comprised primarily ground-mounted assets in 2022, NGP subsequently raised NTD 4.5+ billion (USD 143+ million) in incremental debt to develop and add six fishery-solar assets into the portfolio, including closing an NTD 736 million (~USD 31 million) loan for a 12.5 MW project in Kaohsiung currently under construction. The fishery-solar assets have a total capacity of 78 MW and will almost double NGP’s portfolio from 82 MW to 161 MW.

With limited available land in Taiwan, the government actively promotes the development of fishery-solar projects that allow for the innovative and efficient use of land. This involves combining fishery activities with clean energy generation, which also supports both the domestic industry and Taiwan’s clean energy goals. Taiwan aims to reach an ambitious 20 gigawatt (GW) of installed solar capacity by 2025, of which 4.4 GW will come from fishery-solar alone.

NGP’s fishery-solar projects involve placing ground-mounted solar photovoltaic systems above outdoor fish farms. This innovative approach maximises land utilisation and helps Taiwan accelerate and achieve its energy transition ambitions.

Building on its strong expertise in renewable energy financing and its experience in the previous solar portfolio in Taiwan in 2022 (read more Will open in a new tab ), Crédit Agricole CIB has been mandated the role of Mandated Lead Arranger, Hedging Bank and Green Loan Coordinator in 2023. We also helped the client navigate the evolving and complex regulatory framework in Taiwan, securing a final commitment of NTD 1.1 billion (~USD 35 million) to fund these projects.