Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust has committed an additional €3.4m (£2.8m) to Nordic Generation (Norgen), a specialist developer focused on the Finnish wind and solar market. The money will be used to build on the strong progress already achieved by the asset and to support its phase 2 pipeline.

As part of the transaction, the trust’s existing 50% holding in Nordic Renewables will convert into a direct 30% stake in the integrated Norgen development business. The new structure is expected to be value accretive for Octopus Renewables, with a base case increase of between £1.0m and £1.5m. The board thinks that it should allow for greater range of upside for the trust over the life of the asset.

The initial commitment of €3.4m was made in April 2022, and at today’s date is €2.5m drawn. The value of Octopus Renewables’s holding was valued at €4.8m as at 31 December 2024 – an increase of £2.0m over the quarter. The additional funding takes the total maximum commitment to approximately €6.8m and means that the total capacity of projects expected to reach the ‘ready-to-build’ stage increases to 845MW – more than double the anticipated combined capacity of 400MW originally projected.

The trust is investing alongside another fund managed by Octopus Energy Generation which will also be taking a 30% stake in Norgen on the same terms as Octopus Renewables. The remaining 40% stake is held by the management team.

[QD comment – James Carthew: I quite like these investments that Octopus Renewables makes in developers – it helps differentiate it from peers. The risk/reward profile of these is different to the day-to-day business of owning and profiting from renewable energy investments, but the trust is approaching this in a measured fashion.]

ORIT : Octopus Renewables ups investment in Finnish wind and solar developer