Solar 21 Renewable Energy Ireland, a Dublin-based renewable energy fund, has just completed a deal to buy a 22-acre 3.5MW solar park in Lazio, Italy, for €13m as it continues to grow its investment fund to reach a value of €1bn.
“The continued popularity of investing in renewable energy (as opposed to much riskier equities and property) is allowing the fund to not only grow exponentially and continue to easily pay the investors an attractive fixed annual return of 8.5pc, but also create large reserves and hence liquidity,” said Michael Bradley, CEO of Solar 21.
“The stability of the fund is underpinned by European directives for emissions reductions and sovereign guarantees on green electricity sales, which are accompanied by long-term power purchase agreements,” he added. “From an investor's point of view, this is excellent news as it shows how robust and uncorrelated the investment is compared to other asset classes.”
The Solar 21 fund’s equity is generated from cash and pension investors investing lump sums upwards from €50,000. Investment is fully diversified, with all clients invested in all farms.
Solar 21 has spent more than €50m in the last four months as it aims to grow the fund to €1bn. To put this in context, the overall spend on renewables in 2012 was more than US$267bn, fuelled by businesses, such as Allianz, spending more than US$1.3bn on solar and wind farms.
The Borgo Montello solar park will be bought from Berlin-based Kokusai Europe GmbH, part of Japan’s Kokusai Kogyo Group.
