Renewable energy investment company Thrive Renewables has entered into a joint venture with TopCashback which it says will help finance the next phase of the UK’s net zero transition.
The partnership with TopCashback Sustainability, the impact investing wing of the UK cashback site, will unlock up to £80m of partnership capital, which will be deployed over four years to directly fund sustainable projects in the UK.
Thrive partners with investors and developers to finance, build and operate clean energy projects. The company’s managing director, Matthew Clayton, said: “By working together we can have a much bigger impact – building new clean energy projects that deliver tangible benefits to communities across the UK.
Building on the history of impact investing, the partnership with TopCashback Sustainability means we can increase the number of projects we finance, ultimately accelerating our transition to a cleaner and fairer energy system.”
TopCashback Sustainability’s portfolio includes projects such as Highlands Rewilding, which aims to increase biodiversity and green jobs in the Scottish Highlands. It uses money deposited with Tribe Impact Capital, an asset manager that helps TopCashback make its impact investments.
Thrive finances battery storage, solar and onshore wind energy projects. Early this year it opened its largest battery energy storage system (BESS) to date, a 30MWh facility in Bristol with a runtime of 1.5 hours and a total capacity of 20MW.
It also promotes co-ownership of renewable assets, with the local energy co-op offering up to 20% in its Bristol BESS.
Partnerships in the solar energy and battery storage sector
Recently, AMPYR Distributed Energy signed a £10 million framework agreement with Harvest Green Developments. The agreement will allow the two companies to work together to provide long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) financing to companies looking to decarbonize their operations. As part of the deal, Harvest Green sold its 1.4 MWp solar portfolio to AMPYR.
It also entered into a strategic partnership with Dowling Energy, committing up to £40m to Dowling’s solar pipeline in a bid to launch 20MW of solar projects. AMPYR’s deployment will be funded through PPAs, while Dowling will work with landowners and off-takers to ensure the best possible experience for everyone involved.
Another real estate company recently entered into a joint venture with low-carbon developer Infraland. Under the name Infrabee, the company will develop a range of solar and battery sites across the UK and Europe.
