Suma Capital has signed the Project Finance for the Soria Heat Network with Triodos Bank. This marks the first time this modality of financing has been used in Spain for a district heating project powered by renewable energy.

The financing by Triodos, a bank of Dutch origin specialized in operations related to the world of sustainability, will support the investments made to date by the Project partners, Suma Capital, Axis (ICO) through its Infrastructure Fund and Amatex Group, and will enable the completion of the entire perimeter of the network and the biomass heat generation plant.

In operation since 2016, the Network has an energy supply capacity of 80,000 MWh/year, representing approximately one third of the heating and hot water requirement of the city of Soria.

The Soria Heat Network is the most significant infrastructure of these characteristics in Spain and represents an innovation in the provision of heating and hot water to both residential and commercial buildings. The hot water required for the supply is produced in the power plant located on an industrial estate on the outskirts of the city. Power is generated by means of renewable fuel such as biomass, from the clearing of surrounding forests, replacing the fossil fuels (diesel, gas and propane) used to date for the supply of heating.

The water required is distributed through a 15-kilometer underground network, directly reaching the heating systems of neighbours and users. Thus removing the need to have individual or collective boilers and the need to maintain or buy fuel, since payment is collected in a single quota for the heat consumed (pay per use).

These systems, much more common in the rest of Europe, are increasingly being developed in Spain. Suma Capital is committed to these solutions, having invested through its two Sustainability Funds in three other projects in addition to Soria; Madrid, Burgos and Guadalajara.

Triodos has opted to invest in this project due to its combination of a robust business model, great income stability, vision for the future and positive environmental and social impact. Suma produces an annual report on the impact indicators of the project, highlighting among them the savings of CO2 emissions that exceed 20,000 tons per year, energy savings, and the creation of local employment, estimated at more than 100 jobs.