Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has established Renewable Power Capital (RPC), a new, UK-based renewable energy developer, to invest in solar, onshore wind and battery storage, across Europe.
Backed by CPP Investments‘ multi-billion power and renewables and investment strategy, the new company will be a majority-owned, but independently operated company.
The platform will be led by Bob Psaradellis as CEO, a former GE Energy Financial Services executive who was responsible for closing equity investments in energy assets with more than €5bn in enterprise value.
The new company seeks to enable the energy transition through a long-term investment strategy underpinned by an innovative approach to managing development and merchant risk.
Renewable Power Capital CEO Bob Psaradellis said: “Our new platform is open to investments, initially in the Nordics and Spain, and expanding to other European jurisdictions thereafter.
“Drawing on our deep expertise in the sector, we can work together in partnership with developers, wind and solar equipment manufacturers, construction companies, and investment partners as the market continues to mature and addresses long-term structural change.
“We have a well-developed pipeline of opportunities and expect to make our first investment in early 2021.”
RPC will focus on ready-to-build and operating assets
RPC aims to build a scalable and diversified pan-European platform. It will initially target development, ready-to-build and operating assets.
It is expected to have capabilities across different power markets and across the value chain from development, construction and operations.
The platform is expected to have access to flexible capital from CPP Investments, which has made nearly C$9bn ($7bn) of equity commitments to renewable energy globally as of 30 September 2020.
CPP Investments managing director and power & renewables head Bruce Hogg said: “The establishment of RPC brings together our long-term, flexible capital and a management team with a depth of expertise and sophisticated understanding of the European renewable energy market.
“The business is well-positioned to create value through enhancing routes to market, driving more efficient commercialization strategies and making improvements to assets’ capital structures as many European renewables markets transition towards a subsidy-free regime.”
