“In a fast-growing market for monocrystalline wafers, NorSun has developed plans to increase capacity and introduce new production technologies,” said NorSun chairman John Andersen Jr. “We are excited to see that both new investors, Nysnø and ABN AMRO, as well as existing shareholders have found these plans attractive. In addition, substantial loans from Enova and Innovation Norway have been instrumental in securing the total financing for this project.”
NorSun has produced n-type monocrystalline wafers for high-efficiency solar cells for more than a decade at its 450 MW capacity production facility in Årdal, Norway. Monocrystalline wafers are rapidly becoming standard in the industry. To maintain and expand its market share, NorSun will now more than double production to 1 GW per year.
“Our current production capacity has been sold out for some time and increased production capacity will be welcomed by our customers,” said CEO Svenn Ivar Fure. “New and substantially upgraded production technology will also enable us to reduce unit costs and remain competitive.”
After the capital injection Nysnø and ABN AMRO will be among NorSun’s largest shareholders, alongside Scatec and Arendals Fossekompani, which are also contributing to the fundraising.
Sovereign climate investment company Nysnø backs technologies that provide profitable and smart solutions to the challenges of climate change.
“The solar industry will continue to play a key role in the decarbonization of global energy supply,” said Eivind Egeland Olsen, investment director at Nysnø. “NorSun has a unique competitive position and a very low carbon footprint, made possible by over a decade of technological improvements and a state-of-the-art production facility powered by low cost renewable hydropower. We are very excited by the future prospects of NorSun and to invest alongside strong existing and new investors.”
The ABN AMRO Energy Transition Fund manages a €200 million private equity fund aimed at investing in companies and projects in the energy transition sectors. The fund typically makes equity capital investments in the range of €10-25 million and is focused on western Europe.
“Providing growth capital to NorSun to expand its capacity perfectly fits our strategy to support sustainable businesses with strong management teams in realizing their ambitions,” said Frederik Deutman, managing director of the ABN AMRO Energy Transition Fund.
SpareBank 1 Markets acted as sole financial advisor in the private placement. Advokatfirmaet Haavind acted as legal advisor for the company in connection with the private placement. KPMG acted as financial due diligence provider.
Enova will support NorSun with a loan for the demonstration of new energy and climate technology solutions, the first awarded under this scheme.
“The transition to the low emission society requires front runners that invest in highly innovative energy and climate technologies, which are both environmentally friendly and financially sustainable,” said Enova CEO Nils Kristian Nakstad. “Enova’s loan scheme for demonstration of new energy and climate technology solutions was designed to mitigate technological risk in demonstration projects, thus reducing the downside risk of first-of-a-kind investments in such technologies while allowing the company to retain the upside risk.”
Innovation Norway has provided loans and grants for upgrades of NorSun’s technology platform.
“Innovation Norway has been a partner of NorSun since the very beginning,” said the organization’s Jan Gurvin. “We are happy to see the results of this long term cooperation and commitment. We hope our support will contribute to secure NorSun’s role as a leading international player in the field of future oriented renewable energy.”
NorSun is in the process of qualifying new technologies and equipment that will be included in the expansion project. The expansion will take place in connection with production facilities in Årdal, with production ramp-up through next year.
