Coperfil Real Estate Group, a Spain-based owner of distribution, retail and office properties, has created a new company to make clean-energy investments. Coperfil Real Estate Energy, or CORE Energy, has already launched its first project to create a rental income stream by leasing rooftops for solar panel installations by utility providers.

Logistic Park Logispark in Barcelona is being fitted with 17,000 square meters of silicon solar panels that will provide 400 kilowatts of power to the local power grid. Other installations in the park are slated for completion by the end of 2009, and will increase the power produced by the company’s buildings to three megawatts.

“CORE Energy is not only a vehicle for an attractive new type of profitable investment for shareholders, financial institutions, government and society,” says Oriol Gual, director of property at Coperfil Real Estate Group. “It also represents an added value, a significant increase in our company’s real estate investments.”

Because the solar panels don’t require structural modifications to the building, CORE Energy plans to lease its existing rooftops as well as the top of new structures for solar panel installation. The company is also considering the installation of wind-powered generators at its logistics sites. Coperfil Real Estate Group has offices in the major cities of the Iberian Peninsula.