Greencoat Capital has announced the close of its Greencoat Solar II fund, which has raised £262 million from some of the UK’s largest corporate pension schemes.
The investment firm’s first solar fund (Solar I) closed in September 2016 and raised £295 million, bringing the total amount of investment raised by Greencoat over the last 12 months for its solar strategy to £560 million.
The Solar I fund has already invested more than £260 million in a portfolio of 21 solar farms, ranging in size from 5 to 50MW, with a total capacity of more than 200 MW.
“Solar I is already substantially invested, and we are making fast progress on Solar II with £130 million under exclusivity,” said partner, Lee Moscovitch.
“We continue to see opportunity for UK solar aggregation in a busy secondary market upwards of £20 billion in size.
“Given our reputation for execution, and an ability to manage a wide range of assets, we are excited about Greencoat Solar’s prospects.”
The managing partner of Greencoat Capital, Richard Nourse, added: “Renewables are no longer on the periphery of UK pension fund asset allocations, they are becoming mainstream investments for major funds.
“UK solar PV assets provide the low-risk, predictable cash flows, low correlation and inflation-linkage that pension funds want to match their liabilities and close the funding gap.”