Irish energy firm Solar 21’s UK biomass plant has accumulated €20m in three months
29th Apr 2016 by: Solar 21
Irish energy firm Solar 21’s UK biomass plant has accumulated €20m in private investment since January.
Solar 21 acquired the rights to build the 22MW plant in Hull earlier in the year and the company now expects to meet its €60m investment target before the September deadline.
“To date our investors have mainly been from Ireland. There have also been a lot more cash investors than we’ve previously experienced with other funds,” said Solar 21 chief executive Michael Bradley. “I think this is largely down to the fact that there is a distinct lack of any decent deposit rates on the market at the moment and also because what we are offering is relatively short term at three years.”
The plant, on a 64-acre site, has been under construction since October.
Hull has established itself as a hub for renewable energy in the UK. Siemens and Dong Energy are active in the area alongside Solar 21.
Solar 21 investors can make direct cash investments or make pension investments through self-directed structures.
The company offers investors a three-year term with the potential of a 31.5pc gross return.
The Hull project is the first of five pipeline projects that Solar 21 has agreed with UK-based Heat Recovery Solutions.
The five projects are expected to cost over €500m. Once built, the completed schemes are expected to be worth over €1bn.
The Dublin-based firm has also invested in Italy, spending €13m on a solar park in Lazio.
This article appeared in the Irish Independent on 29th April 2016.