Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in British solar company Elgin Energy to deliver a 15 GW portfolio.
As of 2024, Elgin has delivered almost 2GW of turnkey solar photovoltaic (PV) and storage projects, and has successfully secured more than 30 projects through UK government-backed auctions.
The solar and storage developer’s current project pipeline of 15 GW is supported by development activities in the UK, Irish and Australian markets, including standalone solar, solar together with battery storage and standalone battery storage.
The additional investment of £250 million from CIP’s fifth flagship fund, CIV, which has a target size of more than £10 billion, will further support the pipeline of projects.
Nischal Agarwal, a partner in the CIP Flagship investment team responsible for investments in Europe, said: “Elgin is a perfect fit for CIP’s investment strategy, given its strong leadership and culture, market-leading development expertise, high-quality scale and significant growth potential in markets with attractive fundamentals.
“We are well placed to support Elgin in its transformation into an independent energy supplier (IPP) with our expertise in procurement and construction.”
Ronan Kilduff, CEO of Elgin, added: “This strategic partnership strengthens our financial strength while aligning with our vision to become the leading European solar company. Given CIP’s industrial background and approach, they are an ideal partner for Elgin in the next phase of growth and transformation to an IPP.”
Busy agreements
Both companies involved in this acquisition have previously participated in similar deals, with Elgin having sold parts of a portfolio and CIP being an experienced acquirer of energy development companies.
For example, in July 2023, Elgin sold 100 MW of solar PV projects to Pennon Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of British water company Pennon Group.
Pennon Power acquired the solar portfolio consisting of three projects ranging from 15MW to 50MW. All projects are expected to be operational by the end of 2025 and are located in Buckinghamshire, Aberdeenshire and Cumbria.
The portfolio represents a total estimated capital investment of approximately £85 million and will have a combined generation capacity of 95GWh of electricity per year.
In terms of CIP’s history, the group partnered with Amberside Energy in February 2023 to develop a 2GW portfolio consisting of solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects in the UK.
CIP provided capital under its Flagship Funds for the development of the various projects that will be included in the portfolio. Amberside will try to develop the projects with financial support.
Amberside conceives, develops and manages large-scale solar energy and energy storage projects. According to the company, it has more than 1 GW of projects, coming from more than 2,000 managed systems.
In addition, the investment management company had also partnered with Alcemi almost a year earlier to develop, build and operate a 4GW portfolio of UK energy storage assets.
The projects were in advanced stages of development when the agreement was signed and will each be between 300 MW and 500 MW, with a storage duration of up to four hours.
They have been developed in strategic locations that will support the transmission system by limiting the impact of network restrictions, helping to reduce overall energy costs for consumers and lowering the carbon intensity of the UK energy sector by ensuring better use of energy. renewable energy and therefore limit the need for energy generation from fossil fuels during periods of peak demand.
Alcemi has established and will continue to develop the projects with the support of CIP and Alcemi’s founding investor, Susgen. Procurement activities will be led primarily by CIP and will commence later this year, ahead of construction of the first project, which is scheduled to commence in 2023.
