Solar Project News: Blackhall Acquisition, Mortlake EPC and New Solar Financing
Solar project news for September 29, 2026: Blackhall changes hands, Mortlake moves toward construction, and fresh capital reaches Chad and AMPYR.
Solar Projects Move From Development Into Capital Deployment
Recent transactions span project acquisitions, EPC execution, development finance and infrastructure equity. The common thread is capital moving behind projects that have already cleared important development milestones.
Solar development activity this week is less about headline capacity announcements and more about projects crossing specific execution thresholds. In Ireland, a consented 200 MW asset has changed hands. In Australia, a large solar-plus-storage development has moved into EPC delivery. In Chad, construction capital has begun to draw. Elsewhere in Europe, institutional infrastructure equity is moving behind distributed generation.
These are four of the more relevant solar project developments to watch.
Elgin Acquires the 200 MW Blackhall Solar Farm in Ireland
Elgin has acquired the approximately 200 MW Blackhall Solar Farm in County Meath from GP Joule.
The transaction is notable because Blackhall has already moved through several of the development gates that often determine whether utility-scale solar can attract construction capital. The project is consented and has grid-connection arrangements in place.
According to Elgin's announcement, the company expects to invest approximately €200 million in the development and construction of Blackhall.
Blackhall is also expected to participate in Ireland's upcoming Renewable Electricity Support Scheme auction. For Elgin, the acquisition increases the volume of late-stage capacity available within its Irish platform.
Mortlake Moves Toward Construction With 435 MW of Solar and Large-Scale BESS
Australia is providing another example of the growing convergence between utility-scale PV and storage.
Yanara and Gamuda Australia have signed the delivery contract for Stage 1 of the Mortlake Energy Hub in Victoria.
Stage 1 combines 435 MW of solar generation with a 300 MW, 4.5-hour battery energy storage system. That equates to approximately 1,350 MWh of storage capacity.
Gamuda said early works are expected to begin shortly, with main construction scheduled for November 2026. Energization is targeted for April 2028 and operations for the first quarter of 2029.
The project will connect through Victoria's existing 500 kV network at the Mortlake Terminal Station. The storage component allows generation to be shifted into higher-value dispatch periods rather than relying purely on daytime solar output.
Qair Starts Drawing €37.9 Million for Solar and Storage Projects in Chad
Qair has announced the first disbursement under a €37.9 million financing package supporting two hybrid solar projects near N'Djamena, Chad.
The Gassi and Lamadji projects will provide a combined 30 MWp of solar capacity and 8 MWh of battery storage.
The projects are backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement with national utility Tchadelec. The financing announced by Qair involves development-finance institutions including Proparco and the African Development Bank.
The transaction shows the continuing role of development-finance capital where conventional commercial bank appetite alone may struggle to provide the tenor, risk tolerance or pricing required by frontier-market infrastructure.
Stonepeak Backs AMPYR's Distributed Solar Platform
Capital is also moving into solar at platform level rather than solely through single-asset project finance.
Infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak has agreed to make an equity investment in AMPYR Distributed Energy, a platform that develops, funds, owns and operates onsite renewable-energy assets for commercial and industrial customers.
According to Stonepeak, AMPYR Distributed Energy has a pipeline exceeding 1 GW and has already contracted approximately 250 MW across 200 sites in the UK and Europe.
Platform capital can solve a different problem from traditional single-project financing. Rather than underwriting every small commercial solar installation as an isolated transaction, investors can capitalize a repeatable origination, construction and asset-management platform capable of aggregating projects into larger portfolios.
The Financing Pattern Behind the Headlines
These transactions sit at different points in the project lifecycle.
Blackhall: acquisition of late-stage development inventory.
Mortlake: transition from development and ECI into EPC execution.
Qair Chad: financing drawdown against projects entering construction.
AMPYR: institutional equity deployed at platform level to finance a pipeline of distributed assets.
For developers, the takeaway is practical. Capital usually becomes easier to access as specific development risks are removed. Site control, permits, interconnection, contracted revenues, EPC certainty and an executable equity plan still drive the transition from a development-stage project into a financeable asset.
Financing a Solar, BESS or Hybrid Energy Project?
Financely structures lender outreach for project finance transactions, including construction debt, bridge facilities, refinancing, credit enhancement and other structured capital requirements.
Request a Quote