Finland’s Taaleri Energia has launched a new renewables fund to establish a portfolio of wind, solar and battery assets.
The Taaleri SolarWind 3 Fund will be classified as an Article 9 “Dark Green” Fund, the highest sustainability category under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
The Fund’s investment strategy will be to acquire, develop, contract, construct, operate and exit a portfolio of utility scale onshore wind farms, photovoltaic solar parks and battery storage assets across the Fund’s target markets in the Nordics & Baltics, Poland, south-east Europe, Iberia and Texas, in the US.
The fund will target a return of 10% net internal rate of return, over its 10-year term, with a first close expected in early 2023.
The fund will be seeded with a portfolio of 25-35 development projects which are being acquired using the €44m in development financing that Taaleri Energia secured in 2021.
Taaleri Energia has, to date, acquired 17 development projects for the fund’s seed portfolio.
If these projects were all to reach ready-to-build status during the Fund’s investment period, they would represent 3GW of installed electricity generating capacity and require €930m in fund and co-investor equity to construct.
Taaleri Energia has secured exclusivity on a further 15 development projects across its target markets and will continue to acquire projects up until the first close of the fund.
The Taaleri SolarWind 3 Fund is Taaleri Energia’s sixth renewable energy Fund and builds on the experience and track record of the team built up over the past 12 years.
The current SolarWind 2 Fund (2019) is over 90% committed and has completed 11 investments in Croatia, Finland, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Spain and Texas.
“The SolarWind III Fund strategy follows on from the success of the SolarWind II Fund. We are operating in the same target markets, working together with the same strategic partners, but starting with a large seed portfolio of development projects.
“The demand for renewable energy projects across our target markets has increased significantly over recent years, with a marked additional increase in demand over the past 12 months.
“By securing development projects early we have been able to lock in considerable potential future value for the SolarWind III Fund,” said Kai Rintala, Managing Director, Taaleri Energia.