SEP’s Environmental Capital Fund completes investment into €8.7 million Irish wind farm
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) announces that it has provided project finance to fund the construction of the €8.7 million, 4.6MW Curraghderrig wind farm in the Republic of Ireland. The project was developed by Rengen Power. SEP made the investment through its Environmental Capital Fund (ECF) which is targeted at infrastructure projects in the energy sector.
Curraghderrig is located on the south west coast of Ireland in Kerry, near the village of Asdee, and will operate two 2.3MW Enercon E-70 turbines, each with a hub height of 64 metres. Ground work and turbine installations have now been completed on the site, with the turbines due to be operational by September 2017. Enercon is delivering the construction of the turbines under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, after which it will assume operational and maintenance responsibilities for the wind farm under a comprehensive 15 year contract. The windfarm at Curraghderrig will generate sufficient renewable energy to power over 3,100 homes which will save the equivalent of 5,600 tonnes of CO2 each year or the emissions of about 2,100 cars.
ECF has provided equity funding for the project alongside a long term senior debt facility from Bank of Ireland. Rengen, a leading specialist renewables development and management business, will provide long-term management services to the project, as well as retaining an economic interest in its success. Irish utility company Vayu has entered a power purchase agreement to acquire all the electricity produced at Curraghderrig.
Peter Bachmann, a Director in SEP’s infrastructure team said: “Ireland is a key market for the development of new wind assets, particularly in light of the supportive mechanisms in place under the Government’s REFIT system.”
He continued: “The transaction represents ECF’s first investment in Ireland and the start of a development partnership with Rengen designed to grow ECF’s portfolio of high performing wind assets across both Ireland and the UK. At Curraghderrig we will have market leading wind turbines in a proven high wind location.”
The CEO of Rengen Power, Eugene Keane, added: “This is an important milestone in our developing relationship with the infrastructure team at Scottish Equity Partners. Rengen Power is now actively pursuing other greenfield and development opportunities across Ireland. We are excited about the potential of these opportunities and look forward to delivering large scale projects in due course.”
Michael Lauhoff, Head of Business Banking Growth commented that “Bank of Ireland is delighted to support Scottish Equity Partners by providing long term senior debt to enable the construction of their first wind farm investment in Ireland. Through our dedicated project finance teams, Bank of Ireland has participated in the financing of over 600 megawatts of Irish on shore wind farms – enough to power c400,000 homes with renewable electricity”.
Eoin Hartigan, Head of Project Finance, Business Banking added “the closing of this 4.6MW transaction evidences that Bank of Ireland has the necessary platform to support projects of varying sizes, and our ongoing commitment to the market supports the strategically important goal of Ireland meeting its 2020 EU binding renewable targets”.
ENDS
About Scottish Equity Partners
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) is a leading UK venture capital firm, specialising in investments in innovative, high growth technology companies.
SEP has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, and manages primary and secondary funds backed by global financial institutions, pension funds and corporates. This includes the Environmental Capital Fund (ECF), an infrastructure investment fund targeted at small-scale, UK based, clean energy infrastructure projects - including wind, energy efficiency, biomass, CHP and district heating schemes. The fund is backed by SSE plc, as well as a syndicate of financial investors led by Lexington Partners, the world's largest independent manager of secondary private equity and co-investment funds. SEP raised £135m for ECF and the fund was launched in September 2014.
For further information see: www.sep.co.uk
About Rengen Power
Rengen Power specialises in renewable energy industry developments. Its areas of specialty include solar photovoltaic (PV) energy farms, commercial roof-top projects, windfarm development, landfill gas and waste to energy conversion initiatives. It provides project management services across the spectrum of renewable energy from partnership building, front-end studies, design concepts, planning, engineering, procurement, financial monitoring, due diligence, certification, risk assessment through to commissioning, delivery and asset management.
It is a fully-owned and operated Irish development company created by a group of like-minded professionals who are experts in their chosen fields. The breadth and depth of the company’s combined experience provides optimum project execution and allows for a fully integrated approach. It provides an extensive professional business network platform with a high level of expertise becoming a market leading organisation with cutting edge innovation and technology. It focuses on delivering tailored solutions across a range of technologies in the broad renewable energy space including wind, solar and landfill.
Rengen Power offices are based in Ireland. Rengen Power has entered into a strategic alliance with Longi Group and Premier Green Energy, world leaders in supporting infrastructure, energy and power generation.
About Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland Group is one of the largest financial services groups in Ireland. The Group provides a broad range of banking and other financial services. These services include: current account and deposit services, overdrafts, term loans, mortgages, business and corporate lending, international asset financing, leasing, instalment credit, invoice discounting, foreign exchange facilities, interest and exchange rate hedging instruments, life assurance, pension and protection products. All of these services are provided by the Group in Ireland, with selected services being offered in the UK and internationally.
The Group has the largest network of retail branches and ATM outlets in Ireland, as well as partnerships in the UK with the Post Office and the AA, engaged in the provision of consumer financial services. Corporate Banking and Global Markets conduct the Group’s international business, with offices in Dublin, London and the US, as well as branches in Paris and Frankfurt.
The Bank of Ireland Group is incorporated in Dublin, Ireland. Our Group Head Office is located at 40 Mespil Road, Dublin 4, D04 C2N4, Ireland.
About Enercon
ENERCON was founded in 1984 by Aloys Wobben in Aurich, Germany and since 1998 has been present on Irish market. In 2005 ENERCON opens its first Service Station in Ireland and in 2010 a new Service Headquarters which led to opening the Sales office in Dublin in 2012. At the moment ENERCON is counting 11 Service Stations, 1 Irish Branch Office, 1 Head Service Office and 1 Main Warehouse across the Emerald Isle and employs around 225 people. ENERCON has recently reached 1 GW of installed power on the Irish market (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) which makes us the first wind turbine manufacturer who passed that significant milestone on Irish market.