Solaer secures $65 million for first wind project in Chile
The 47 MW project will include 80 MWh of storage and is part of a broader expansion that includes solar, desalination and data center projects in the country.
While its desalination and data center projects in Chile remain in the early stages, Solaer is moving ahead with its first wind energy project in the country, securing $65 million in financing for construction.
The company, controlled by co-CEOs Paula and Alon Segev, has also secured an additional $6.3 million financing facility to cover guarantees and VAT payments.
The project involves the construction of a 47-megawatt wind farm in the Calbuco area of southern Chile, south of Puerto Montt. It will also include approximately 80 megawatt-hours of energy storage. Solaer holds a 47% stake in the project.
Construction began in 2025, and the project company has signed an 11-year power purchase agreement for the electricity it will generate. Solaer estimates annual revenue from the project at NIS 48 million, with EBITDA of NIS 37 million. Construction and grid connection are expected to be completed in 2027.
The wind project is part of a broader expansion in Chile. Solaer currently operates solar projects in the country with a combined capacity of only 6 MW, but is also building a 53 MW solar project with 220 MWh of storage. The solar and wind projects are expected to be completed on similar timelines and will significantly increase the company’s connected capacity in Chile.
As of the end of June, Spain remained Solaer’s largest market, with 89 MW of connected projects. The company also operates 9 MW of rooftop solar capacity in Israel and 3 MW in Poland, giving it a total operating capacity of 107 MW, excluding storage.
Solaer is expanding beyond its existing portfolio through acquisitions as well. In late August, it and insurance company Clal signed a binding agreement to acquire 268 MW of solar projects in Poland, about 90% of which are already connected to the grid. Solaer will hold a 51% stake in the partnership.
In June, the company also signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire a 175 MW portfolio of solar projects in Spain.
At the same time, Solaer is developing five solar projects in Spain totaling 200 MW, together with 524 MWh of storage capacity. Grid connections for those projects are expected in 2026 and 2027.
Beyond that portfolio, projects totaling approximately 1.1 GW are approaching the construction stage, including 473 MW in Italy, 347 MW in Spain and 281 MW in Chile.
Chile is also the focus of two more ambitious projects that are still at an earlier stage.
Solaer is developing a desalination plant adjacent to one of its solar projects to supply water to mining operations in the Atacama Desert. The facility is expected to use, among other sources, electricity generated by the solar project. Earlier this year, the company received approval to double the planned desalination capacity to 110 million cubic meters of water per year.
Nearby, Solaer is developing a data center with an initial planned capacity of 300 MW that could eventually reach 4 GW. In July, the company signed a lease for the land designated for the facility.
The expansion comes as Solaer faces a significantly weaker financial result. The company recorded an operating loss of NIS 25.6 million in the first half of 2026, compared with an operating loss of NIS 4.8 million in the same period a year earlier.
The stronger shekel against the currencies in which Solaer operates overseas also weighed heavily on its results. Financing expenses reached NIS 83 million in the first half, compared with financing income of NIS 19 million a year earlier. As a result, the company swung from a profit of NIS 13 million in the first half of 2025 to a loss of NIS 100 million in the first half of 2026.
Solaer went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in February 2021 at a valuation of NIS 599 million. More than two and a half years later, after its share price had fallen 43%, its valuation reached a low of NIS 370 million.
The stock has since undergone a sharp reversal. Over the past year, Solaer shares have gained 119%, compared with increases of 61% in the TA-Cleantech Index and 35% in the benchmark TA-125 Index. The rise has been attributed to the company's project backlog increasingly materializing and easing concerns over the risks facing the business.
By late July, Solaer had reached a valuation of NIS 2.6 billion. It has since fallen 18% from that peak, broadly in line with the 16% decline in the TA-Cleantech Index over the same period, and currently has a market capitalization of NIS 2.2 billion.
