Renewable Energy
Northern Ireland Energy Holdings Annual General Meeting
NI Energy Holdings Annual Report - PDF now available online European Renewable Energy Fund
Northern Ireland Energy Holdings, with regulatory approval and as a founding investor established the European Renewable Energy Fund in September 2007 with a €15 million commitment. The objectives of the fund are threefold:
- To contribute to a reasonable and safe return on the £30 million capital rebate received by Moyle Interconnector Ltd as part of the introduction of the BETTA trading arrangements in Britain.
- To assist in dealing with climate change by helping to meet European renewable targets and investing in renewable energy.
- To provide an equity fund that can be accessed by renewable energy developers on the Island of Ireland.
The fund has been established to make equity investments in commercially robust projects that are likely to be either operational or at an advanced stage of development.
Northern Ireland Energy Holdings appointed Platina Finance Limited as the fund manager. Northern Ireland Energy Holdings has similar rights to other investors in the fund and does not manage the fund day to day in terms of attracting investors or selecting projects for investment. Platina Finance, manager of the European Renewable Energy Fund, is highly experienced in the renewables area and in September 2007 already managed two other renewable funds. It is the aim of the fund to deliver a return to investors by investing in relatively low-risk projects over a five year period followed by a realisation period of 5 to 7 years.
The fund is attracting a wide range of investors and is on target to reach a total of around €250m by end of 2008. The majority of the EREF will be invested in businesses that own renewable energy generation assets in order to aggregate between 500 MW and 700 MW of electrical generation capacity. It is expected that €30 million of the fund will be reserved to secure and finance a pipeline of projects still in their development phase in order to boost the fund returns. By March 2008 the fund had made its first investment in renewable projects and was assessing a significant pipeline of projects for investment.
Last Updated: 10th June 2008