While nuclear energy will continue to play a significant part in global power generation for years to come, there’s no denying a strong interest in renewable power sources such as solar energy.

Abengoa (NSDQ: ABGB) is a Spanish infrastructure company that focuses on using sustainable technology in the energy and environmental sectors. That boils down to renewable energy generation, the use of biomass and biofuels and desalinization plants, though the company also develops and builds electricity transmission infrastructure. There have been few major renewable energy projects over the past decade in which the company hasn’t been involved.

In addition to installing those facilities for others, the company also operates a number of them, generating recurring revenue streams for itself before selling the facility to another operator.

I made the case in this issue’s main feature article that nuclear power is here to stay, but there’s still a great deal of interest in “green” and renewable forms of energy. Late last year, the world’s largest solar power plant started operation and another, though slightly smaller, facility will likely begin construction nearby late this year or in early 2015. Germany remains keenly interested in renewable energy projects and they’re increasingly popular in emerging market countries because, despite their relatively high upfront costs, there isn’t recurring fuel demand.

That’s translated to positive growth for Abengoa in recent years, with revenue up 17 percent in 2013 to EUR7.4 billion and net income up 84 percent to EUR101 million.

Revenue at the company’s engineering & construction segment, which designs and builds these projects, grew by 27 percent to EUR4.8 billion last year, while its pipeline projects grew to EUR139 billion. The company’s backlog was up by 2 percent to EUR6.8 billion.

Revenue from operating concessions was up 32 percent to EUR519 million with 61 percent tied to solar operations, 18 percent to other electricity generating plants, 13 percent to transmission and 8 percent to water. It had 35 operating concession assets in total with an additional 24 under construction or development.

Of its total revenue last year, 28 percent was generated in the US versus 33 percent in 2012. The contribution from Latin America also declined from 32 percent to 29 percent in 2013. The real growth driver for the company was Africa, which chipped in 11 percent of last year’s revenue as compared to just 3 percent in 2012.

In addition to strong growth in both revenue and net income, Abengoa also made strides towards improving its balance sheet. Net corporate debt declined by 15 percent to EUR2.1 billion while its leverage ratio also declined by 1.5 times to 2.2 times. It also increased its capital by EUR517 million while realizing EUR800 million in assets sales.

The company also raised EUR1.3 billion to extend its existing debt maturities. Initially facing about EUR750 million in maturities this year and EUR960 million in 2015, it has now stretched its annual maturities out through 2020 while lowing its required annual payouts. Its debt level was more than manageable prior to the changes, but the current structure allows for much better cash flow management.

Thanks to an improving economic situation in Europe and continued strong demand in Africa, management has forecast 7 percent to 9 percent growth in revenue this year. It also expects to bring its leverage ratio down further to about 2 times over the course of the year.

Management expects to work through about 54 percent of the company’s total engineering & construction backlog this year, with about a third of the total project values being completed in Brazil, 14 percent in Mexico, and 10 percent in other Latin American countries. About a quarter of that falls into the “rest of the world” category, primarily in Africa.

Abengoa has already won several contracts so far this year, including a solar installation in Chile and a railway modernization project in the UK.

While nuclear power is here to stay, Abengoa is a great play on continued interest in renewable energy and a buy up to 29.