“We want to make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change. Being a leader means acting now, stretching ourselves and seizing the enterprise opportunities in a low carbon economy. Harnessing clean energy is essential to this ambition and stimulating private sector funding of renewable energy projects can help drive down consumer costs and increase the pace and scale of transition to low carbon technologies,” said Richard Bruton TD, Ireland’s Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment.
“As world climate leaders meeting in Poland to discuss implementation of the Paris Agreement, the new €84 million support for renewable energy projects across Europe by NTR demonstrates the EU Bank’s firm commitment to accelerating investment crucial for tackling climate change,” added Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the European Investment Bank.
The NTR Renewable Energy Income Fund II will support greenfield onshore wind and solar projects, as well as energy storage schemes associated with wind and solar projects.
Energy storage remains an emerging technology and enabling renewable energy to more effectively manage peak demand is essential to reaching climate targets.
The new fund will provide long-term equity financing of over 25 years to accelerate development of small- and medium-sized renewable energy projects. Expansion of these projects is currently hindered by limited availability of long-term financing.
Following detailed analysis of European renewable energy investment trends, the NTR Renewable Energy Income Fund II expects to support 15-20 different renewable energy projects, representing approximately 700 MW of clean energy power generation.
The EIB support represents their first ever backing for investment through an Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle or ICAV. This is a new fund structure recently developed in Ireland designed to be more effective and efficient.
EIB subscription to the fund is expected in the coming weeks and financial close of the fund will take place once technical preparations with investors are complete.
