Norfund and Danish fund agree 49% stake in Philippine solar project
The planned investment in Vena Energy’s 500MWp Ixus Bugallon project follows July debt financing and awaits competition approval.
Norfund and Impact Fund Denmark have signed agreements for a combined 49% equity interest in Vena Energy’s 500-megawatt-peak Ixus Bugallon solar project in the Philippines, bringing two development-finance investors into the project’s planned ownership.
The companies announced the agreements on 16 October. Completion remains subject to Philippine Competition Commission approval and other customary closing conditions. The plant, in Bugallon in Pangasinan province, is under construction.
The proposed equity investment follows a separate financing milestone in July 2026, when Ixus Bugallon reached financial close with approximately US$310 million of senior debt from eight international banks. That loan financing preceded the newly announced ownership agreements.
For Vena Energy, the partnership combines continued involvement in the asset with capital to support further development. Vena Group’s chief investment officer, Simone Grasso, said the transaction would allow the company to retain long-term ownership and operational involvement while directing capital into its construction programmes and future growth.
Ixus Bugallon was awarded under the Philippine Department of Energy’s second Green Energy Auction Program, known as GEAP 2. The partners estimate that, once operating, its annual generation could meet the equivalent electricity needs of about 650,000 Philippine households. That figure describes projected generation on an annual-equivalent basis, rather than a count of contracted household customers.
The new project sits beside Vena Energy’s existing 550-megawatt-peak Bugallon solar development. The two are separate assets: the investment agreements concern the 500-megawatt-peak Ixus project being built next door.
Norfund is Norway’s government-owned investment fund for developing countries. It also manages the Norwegian Climate Investment Fund, which invests in renewable energy in developing markets with substantial fossil-fuel emissions. Impact Fund Denmark is Denmark’s development-finance institution and provides commercial equity, loans and guarantees to businesses in developing countries.
Their planned combined minority stake adds institutional equity partners to a Philippine renewable-energy project that has already secured senior lenders. The announcement sets out the ownership share but does not disclose the price of that equity investment.
Source: Norfund, Impact Fund Denmark and Vena Energy’s 16 October 2026 joint announcement.
