Schroders Greencoat has closed £330m in commitments that will fund long-term investments in renewable infrastructure and energy transition assets across the south west of England.
The commitments come from six Local Government Pension Schemes in the Brunel Pension Partnership.
Schroders Greencoat will target investments in a wide range of renewable energy technologies, including in traditional sectors of solar and wind, and innovative energy transition sub-sectors such as battery storage and green hydrogen production.
With a large amount of capital being deployed into a concentrated geography, the investments are expected to deliver significant local impact across the region, creating jobs in the South West while providing clean energy to the national grid.
The mandate targets investments in the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire.
Schroders said this represents the largest-ever commitment by UK local government pensions into place-based and locally-focused renewable energy infrastructure.
The investments will not only contribute to meeting the UK’s net zero and energy security targets, but also the net zero targets and environmental impact goals of the Local Government Schemes.
Schroders Greencoat’s aggregate managed assets in the UK currently total 2.8GW in capacity, removing the need for over 2.6 million tonnes in carbon emissions annually.
It follows Greencoat Cornwall Gardens LP launched in 2022; a tailored fund targeting renewable assets in Cornwall supported by Cornwall Pension Fund and Brunel, as well as the launch of the Schroders Capital UK Real Estate Impact strategy focused on housing and job creation in deprived areas.
Matt Ridley, partner at Schroders Greencoat, said: “Investing in renewable generation assets across Brunel’s constituent counties generates resilient cashflows for underlying investors, and clean energy where their pension beneficiaries work and live.
“Schroders Capital has the scale and pipeline to replicate this model across the country, with investment opportunities across a range of technologies and scales.
“We’re very pleased to be working with Brunel and its partners again – our close relationship with them, which dates back to 2019, is key to making initiatives like this one possible.”