RGREEN INVEST, a leading independent French investment management company specialized in equity investments and financing for infrastructure projects related to the energy transition and to the climate change adaptation, announces its first investment in the UK. While energy storage is critical for the UK (see box below), four greenfield projects with a total capacity of 110 MW have been purchased from Arlington Energy and funded by the INFRAGREEN IV fund, which closed in June with a total capitalization of 670 million euros.
“This first venture in the UK energy storage market reinforces our internationalization strategy. RGREEN INVEST’s ambition is to become a recognized European player in this market. The choice of the United Kingdom is significant as the country has identified energy storage as a priority to accelerate its transition to renewable energy sources.” – Nicolas Rochon, Founder and CEO of RGREEN INVEST.
100% owned by INFRAGREEN IV through its dedicated IPP platform, these infrastructure projects were developed by Arlington Energy and their construction will be managed by the UK company Battery Asset Management. The Projects are in talks with several aggregators for their route to market and with several debt providers for their funding. The four sites are scheduled to become operational between Q1 2022 and Q3 2022 and are located in Chesterfield, Rochdale, Plymouth and East Sussex.
National Grid says UK could need 13GW of energy storage by 2030 to ensure net zero future
In 2019, under the Climate Change Act, the UK Government legally committed to achieving net zero by 2050. National Grid has identified energy storage as a significant enabler for the adoption of renewable energy if the UK is to meet net zero. National Grid also identified a minimum of 13GW needed by 2030 to facilitate the transition to net zero.
For this transaction, RGREEN INVEST and Battery Asset Management were supported by:
• EPC contractor: Smith Brothers
• Financial advisor: IDCM
• Legal advisor: Osborne Clarke (RGREEN INVEST) – TLT (Arlington)
• Technical advisor: DNV GL
• Market advisor: Baringa
ABOUT RGREEN INVEST:
Founded in 2013, RGREEN INVEST is an independent French investment management company, and recently “entreprise à mission” with a proven track record investing and financing the energy transition and adaptation to climate change. One of the first players to offer a complete range of tailor-made financial solutions, RGREEN INVEST serves the energy transition in Europe with a passion. More than thirty experienced professionals, make RGREEN INVEST one of the largest teams of specialists in financing energy transition-related infrastructure projects in France.
The company is mindful of climate issues and places ESG at the heart of its investment criteria, enabling institutional investors to take part in the energy transition while sharing the financial gains. With over 1.3 billion euros under management, RGREEN INVEST is participating in the financing of projects in Europe equivalent to a total installed capacity of more than 2.6 GW** as of now, thus avoiding the equivalent of nearly 550,000 tons of CO2 emissions in 2020*.
ALL RGREEN INVEST INVESTMENT STRATEGIES ARE OPEN ONLY TO PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS
* Source: RGREEN INVEST. GW stands for gigawatt of installed capacity of financed plants, with the support of other financing sources.
**Source: RGREEN INVEST, estimates based on an internal calculation methodology. Note that the amount of avoided emissions attributable to a renewable energy project financed by RGREEN INVEST depends significantly on the emission factor of the country in which the project is located. Where renewables replace fossil fuel capacity, particularly coal-fired power plants, the emissions avoided will be significant. Avoided emissions also depend on the renewable technologies deployed. This parameter explains why the avoided emissions of wind power are more important than those of solar power, even though the proportion of these two technologies is comparable in the RGREEN INVEST portfolio.
PRESS CONTACTS – Maarc for RGREEN INVEST
• Zakary Garaudet – +33 (0)6 79 07 62 50 – zakary.garaudet@maarc.fr
• Emilie Molinier-Ravage – +33 (0)6 68 26 34 00 – emilie.molinier@maarc.fr
ABOUT ARLINGTON ENERGY & BATTERY ASSET MANAGEMENT
Founded in 2017, Arlington Energy is focused on bringing development, construction and asset operational expertise under one umbrella to reduce risk and offer best in class infrastructure investment opportunities to financing partners. Arlington is a privately owned, platform developer of large-scale flexible energy assets, with a breadth of knowledge and experience in all areas of the project lifecycle. Arlington is passionate about the energy transition to a highly renewable and low-carbon grid, moving away from older forms of generation. Arlington works to consolidate a fragmented development market to attain optimal scale and produce a bankable blueprint to achieve reliable returns for its investors. Arlington has a growing development pipeline of energy storage assets to deploy in the coming years.
Battery Asset Management Ltd is a special vehicle established to manage the construction and long-term operation of the 110MW portfolio owned by RGREEN INVEST.
