Ovo has today (21 October) announced it has purchased a minority stake in digital marketplace Renewable Exchange for an undisclosed sum.
As part of the deal Steven Ackroyd, Ovo’s director of business development, will be appointed to Renewable Exchange’s board.
The challenger energy supplier, which recently announced it was buying SSE’s retail arm for £500 million, says the proceeds of its investment will be used by Bristol-based Renewable Exchange to accelerate the development of its digital Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) market platform.
Founded in 2016, Renewable Exchange already has 717 generators with an installed capacity of more than 1GW connected to the platform.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, chief executive and founder of Ovo, said: “Renewable Exchange is the UK’s leading digital platform, connecting independent renewable energy generators with buyers and bringing simplicity to an increasingly complex energy system.
“We’re delighted to be working with Rob and his team to bring clean, affordable energy to more customers.”
Robert Ogden, chief executive and founder of Renewable Exchange, said: “Ovo are the perfect partners to provide the backing our marketplace needs to grow.
“We’re excited to support more distributed clean energy generators to optimise the value of their power and connect with more offtakers.
“By working with Ovo we can deliver on our vision to pave the way for subsidy free renewables by digitising and democratising the PPA market.”
The deal is the latest in a series of investments since the Mitsubishi Corporation acquired a £200 million 20 per cent stake in Ovo in February.
Last week the company revealed it had exceeded £1 billion in revenue but saw gross profit fall by £52 million in 2018.