Photovoltaic systems for irrigation (PVI) can reduce the energy costs of agriculture by more than 75% while saving up to 30% of its water consumption. There are proven PVI technologies available but investments exceeding € 24 bn are required to install the systems on the European farms. Affordable capital can be obtained for PVI projects from institutional investors if they are “packaged” in suitable investment instruments like green bonds. We aim to provide the technological and financial solutions for PVI projects that allow them to be financed directly by institutional investor, reducing drastically the costs and uncertainty for farmers. The web-based solution is the result of in-house technological developments for PVI and a tailored business model including a set of standardized contracts, technical specifications and management protocols as well as the human resources and infrastructure that allow for the creation of pools of PVI ready to attract institutional investors. Importantly, by introducing the necessary standards and tracking the quality and performance of the assets with a specific methodology, we will ensure that the resulting investment instruments are in full compliance with the new requirements of the European Capital Market Union. Furthermore, the use of blockchain-based smart contracts has the potential to drastically reduce the costs and time required to assess and validate collateralized assets, creating a remarkable business opportunity for our companies

On-farm Renewable Energy Systems (RES) can provide agrarian communities with an extra source of stable income, while guaranteeing long term clean energy supply for society. Despite their enormous potential for RES, in practice many farmers are not capable of accessing the financial, technical and administrative resources required for installing RES capacity on their farms. This is caused by RES investments generally being restricted to project finance for large installations while RES types that can be installed on farms require bank loans. This limitation greatly restricts capital supply while raising overall cost. Most farms in the targeted countries have a low credit profile that disqualifies them for loans. To overcome this limitation and fully take advantage of the last few years´ cost reductions and performance advancements in RES, a tailored investment instrument is needed that can attract capital from capital markets and especially from institutional investors to on-farm RES. The recent appearance of innovative investment schemes, addressed to overcome similar challenges in other sectors, demonstrates that, by creating pools of RES, access to capital market resources can be realized. The proposed action is designed to initiate a structured dialogue among farmers, financiers and other relevant experts and stakeholders in order to develop and promote such an investment instrument, tailored for on-farm RES. The consortium that presents this proposal includes, among other key stakeholders, a leading European financial institution, a university as well as the largest farmers´ associations of Spain, Italy and Greece. The quality of the consortium and the relevance of the expected results mean that this proposal is a unique opportunity to increase the financeability of on-farm RES in Europe.