Aquila European Renewables Income Fund (AERIF) has said it is pursuing two near-term wind and solar opportunities in the Nordics and southern Europe totalling 100MW.
The London Stock Exchange listed fund, which is advised by German asset manager Aquila Capital, gave its outlook in a set of final results for the year ended 31 December 2021.
AERIF ended the year with a net asset value of €417.4m, or 102.6 cents per ordinary share, representing an increase of 2.6% compared to 31 December 2020 not including dividends.
It paid dividends of 5 cents per ordinary share and is targeting 5.25 cents per share in 2022, , subject to portfolio performance.
It ended the year with a 332.3MW spread across 10 investments, with production climbing to 522.3GWh compared to 459.9GWh the previous year.
This was however 8.2% below budget, owing largely to weaker than expected wind conditions in the Nordics and lower than expected irradiation levels in Portugal.
The fund also raised an additional €90m in September 2021, which it was unable to deploy as quickly as it had wanted as the price and risk terms of its acquisition targets proved unattractive.
It has since signed an investment commitment for the 100MW Greco solar construction project in Spain, which AERIF said would “rebalance” its portfolio away from “over-dependence on relatively volatile wind assets” when it is completed in late 2022.
AERIF is also targeting commissioning of its Norwegian wind asset, The Rock, in the second quarter 2022.
All 72 turbines at the project have now been erected and energisation is underway.
AERIF said it is confident that the wind farm will prove a “strong and resilient asset for the portfolio”, pending the outcome of a Sami court case, which is due to have its final hearing in May.