Global renewable energy developer and operator Energea said it has launched its LATAM Energy Portfolio, the company’s fourth and latest active investment strategy. The group on February 25 said it will invest in distributed solar power projects across South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The portfolio announced Wednesday launches with a $100-million secured credit facility with Helios Energía S.A.S. E.S.P., a regulated Colombian public utility delivering off-grid solar power to rural and indigenous communities.
“The LATAM Energy Portfolio represents one of the most compelling risk-adjusted opportunities in the global energy transition today,” said Mike Silvestrini, co-founder and managing partner at Energea. “Latin America combines growing electricity demand with limited financing options and elevated capital costs, creating attractive conditions for yield-oriented investors. This portfolio fills a critical financing gap while generating revenue through contracted energy sales and amortizing loan repayments, emphasizing durability, collateral protection, and covenant discipline.”
Energea said the LATAM Energy Portfolio’s anchor investment with Helios Energía targets Colombia’s Zonas No Interconectadas, where traditional grid extension is not economically viable. The investment supports bringing a reliable supply of electricity to rural and indigenous communities beyond Colombia’s national grid. Helios as of May of last year was managing more than 20,000 active, government-subsidized subscribers across nine areas that historically could not receive access to grid-supplied energy.
“Latin America is a natural region for expansion for Energea given our successful track record investing in emerging markets,” said Silvestrini. “We’re particularly excited about the structured nature of this investment, which provides secured exposure to government-backed cash flows within Colombia’s regulated SISFV framework. The transaction structure secured exposure to regulated, government-backed infrastructure cash flows, incorporating fixed interest rates with monthly amortization, equity pledges, registered liens over receivables, and a fiduciary trust structure that centralizes collections and enforces senior repayment priority.”
The companies said the Helios facility features a minimum 1.4x cash-based debt service coverage ratio covenant tested on actual inflows, providing institutional-grade protection while supporting the utility’s subscriber growth and working capital stabilization. Under Colombia’s regulated framework, qualifying systems receive fixed reimbursements for both operating and capital expenditures over defined recovery periods.
The LATAM Energy Portfolio joins Energea’s existing strategies in Brazil, Africa, and the U.S. Officials said it reflects the company’s continued focus on markets where electricity prices are elevated, local borrowing costs are high, and access to long-term infrastructure capital remains constrained.
“While significant institutional capital has focused on Asia and Europe, we believe the Americas remain comparatively underallocated relative to opportunity,” said Silvestrini. “As energy demand expands and electricity prices adjust accordingly, project economics strengthen. Our objective is to participate in that growth through structured investments designed to balance yield, impact, and capital protection.”
Energea, launched in 2020 and headquartered in Connecticut, has raised more than $450 million in support of its contracted, cash-flowing assets across global markets. The company said the new portfolio is designed “as a multi-country strategy that will diversify across multiple jurisdictions, counterparties, and transaction types while maintaining disciplined focus on distributed generation. The mandate allows Energea to acquire direct ownership interests in distributed energy projects, provide secured credit facilities to qualified operators, and structure transactions supported by long-term contracts and reliable counterparties.”
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
