Octopus Energy Generation, a London-based investor in renewable energy, launches its new renewables fund Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), at €220M.
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, comments, “This fund is helping to unlock huge amounts of new renewable energy across Europe, turbocharging the journey to greater energy security. The more new green power we can build, the faster we can reduce our dependence on gas imports and drive down energy bills for people in the UK and the rest of Europe.”
The announcement comes as the UK investor makes its debut investment in renewables developer Exagen to build new green energy.
Octopus Energy Development Partnership
The OEDP focuses on investing in the early stages of building new green energy, which is vital to help reduce Europe’s dependence on gas imports and lower future energy bills, claims the company.
With OEDP, the company targets solar, onshore wind, and energy storage projects in the UK and the rest of Europe.
This latest deal sees OEDP take a 24% stake in Exagen. Exagen is working on large-scale solar and battery facilities, partnering with farmers, landowners, and local communities to build projects that help bring energy security.
This deal includes the option to purchase one of the UK’s largest batteries at 500 MW / 1 GWh located in the Midlands, England, currently in development and scheduled to be operational by 2027.
As part of the agreement, OEDP has also acquired three solar farms with batteries on-site in the Midlands and North East of England, which Exagen is currently developing, with a combined capacity of approximately 400 MW.
Exagen already has over 2 GW of solar and battery storage projects in their pipeline, which Octopus will be able to invest in once they’re ready to build.
Alex Brierley, Co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team, says, “Making the first investment from this new renewable development fund is a major milestone for us, and we’ve got more coming. Working with Exagen, there’s a massive opportunity to scale solar and battery storage projects – and these will play an integral role in the flexible renewable energy system of the future.”
Jeremy Littman, founder, and CEO of Exagen says, “All of us at Exagen is thrilled by this ground-breaking deal with Octopus, which will support us in our mission to build smarter, flexible renewable generation projects across the grid, enabling communities access to cleaner, cheaper energy. I believe our commitment to our staff, our technology-focused approach to operations, and our passion for local communities and the environment has aligned us with the Octopus team, and we’re all looking forward to delivering on our promise together.”
