Aukera Energy has secured a £135m senior debt facility from Deutsche Bank and Rabobank to support the construction of five UK solar projects, totalling 220 MWp.
All five developments were awarded Contracts for Difference (CfDs) in Allocation Round 6 in autumn 2024 and are expected to be operational by the end of 2026.
One of the projects, the Benthead energy development in North Ayrshire, Scotland, is being co-developed with Locogen and will include a 63 MW solar PV array and a 30MW, two-hour battery energy storage system (BESS). It is expected to go live later this year.
Details of the other four projects have not yet been disclosed, but Aukera stated they are located across the UK, from Kent to Ayrshire. Burges Salmon, Pinsent Masons, and Evergy were the transaction’s legal and technical advisors.
Aukera co-founders Pascal Emsens and Catalin Breaban called the funding “the beginning of Aukera’s next stage of growth as our project pipeline starts to reach maturity in all four of our markets.”
Carol Kort, executive director of Rabobank Project Finance, said the bank was “delighted” to support Aukera’s growth, citing a shared “dedication to drive the shift towards a more sustainable future.”
Deutsche Bank’s Danai Koutra described the transaction as reflecting its “commitment to sustainable finance and providing complex structured solutions.”
Founded in 2021, Aukera has a 16 GW development pipeline across the UK, Germany, Italy, and Romania. It is also working with Locogen on the Loch Fergus solar-plus-storage project in South Ayrshire, expected to be operational in 2026.
