Hamburg-based real asset specialist Aquila Capital has launched the Aquila Capital Energy Efficiency Strategy, focussing on investments in small to medium sized energy efficiency projects in the private and public sector. The geographical focus will be on Europe. Its first investment, a street lighting project in Italy, been closed in November 2020.
The project’s objective is to replace and operate street lighting systems under long-term concession agreements within a cluster of eight municipalities in central Italy. The project’s return is driven by cost savings through the substitution of existing lighting systems with LED lamps, a proven technology, resulting in energy consumption reduction between 60 and 70 per cent.
Aquila Capital’s dedicated energy efficiency investment team has extensive experience and a proven track record in sourcing and structuring more than 30 energy efficiency projects with highly attractive risk-adjusted returns across a broad range of sectors and technologies.
Roman Rosslenbroich, co-founder and CEO of the Aquila Group, says: “In our day-to-day interactions with institutional investors we see a substantial and continuous appetite for European energy efficiency investments. By expanding our renewable investment strategy to energy efficiency, we can build on our existing expertise in renewables and real estate to offer investors meaningful investment opportunities. Our investments are characterised by an attractive and stable risk return profile due to largely contractually fixed cash flows and very limited exposure to fluctuations in the financial markets.”
Franco Hauri, Senior Investment Manager, Energy Efficiency Team, says: “Unlike other investors in the market, our strategy focuses on financing not just large multi-million projects but also on financing small and medium size energy efficiency projects for industrial and commercial companies or public entities and implementing these projects in partnership with experienced project development companies, including Energy Service Companies, global technology suppliers and installation companies.”
Going forward, the strategy’s portfolio will be highly diversified by sector, counterparty, and project type. Further examples of energy efficiency investment opportunities include the installation of biomass heating systems, ventilation technologies, block-type thermal power stations or roof-mounted photovoltaic plants for self-consumption.
