German investment company Aquila Capital has launched a EUR 750 million fund primarily seeking investments in onshore and offshore wind power, photovoltaics, hydropower, electricity grids and heat networks, as well as energy storage with an emphasis on greenfield projects.
The Energy Transition Infrastructure Fund (ETIF) will invest in energy infrastructure assets that are essential to Europe’s energy transition. The fund will pursue the three most important subsectors of the energy transition, namely renewable energy generation, energy storage and energy transportation, Aquila Capital said.
The company will launch the strategy as a Luxembourg-based Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (RAIF) with a target volume of EUR 750 million and a term of 12 years. The target net IRR is 8% to 10% per annum.
“There are numerous developments driving the need for strategic investment in European energy infrastructure projects,” said Susanne Wermter, Head of Investment Management Energy & Infrastructure EMEA at Aquila Capital.
“Energy consumption is rising, which is increasingly being met by renewable energy assets such as photovoltaics and wind power rather than fossil fuel and nuclear generation.”
The geographical focus of ETIF is on continental Europe and the Nordic countries, with possible additional allocations in Great Britain and in Central and Eastern Europe. Ten to 15 investments with an average equity ticket of EUR 50 to 75 million are planned.
“In the coming years, investments in energy storage and grid capacity will become much more important. Our response to this development is the ETIF strategy, which allows investors to participate financially and ecologically in the Europe-wide energy transition on a sustainable basis,” said Roman Rosslenbroich , CEO and co-founder of Aquila Capital.
Aquila Capital currently manages renewable energy generation assets with a capacity of about 2,200MW.