Vortex Energy, a renewables-focused investment vehicle in Europe managed by the private equity arm of EFG Hermes, has invested €222 million (~$237.2 million) equity capital in Ignis, an integrated renewable energy company.
Vortex Energy’s initial investment was made in Q4 2021; Ignis has been expanding its growth with more than 1 GW of ready-to-build (RTB) Spanish portfolio.
The company plans to start site preparations and have an initial planned capacity of 500 MW. Ignis’ management has actively negotiated more than 500 MW of bilateral power purchase agreements (PPAs) with blue-chip and other off-takers.
The company has also expanded its international trajectory to a cumulative capacity of 11 GW of solar, wind, and battery storage pipeline outside of Spain.
Currently, Ignis owns a development portfolio of 14 GW of solar and wind projects in Spain and 8 GW in Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific.
Vortex Energy continues to support Ignis’ growth with €46 million (~$49.1 million) of equity set to be injected in Q4 2022 and a further €176 million (~$188.1 million) of equity in Q1 2023.
“Ignis’ unique execution power and its deep energy management and operational know-how are critical today more than ever in our industry. We are committed to continuing to help Ignis’ management to build its sizable IPP portfolio in Spain and internationally,” said Ana Peris Caminero, COO of Vortex Energy.
Recently, Greenbacker Capital Management, through its Greenbacker Development Opportunities Fund I, a private equity fund that invests in sustainable infrastructure platforms across the US, invested in Sunrock Distributed Generation (Sunrock DG), a financing and asset aggregation platform for commercial and industrial (C&I) solar and energy storage projects across the US.
According to Mercom’s Q1 2022 solar funding and M&A report, total corporate funding, including venture capital (VC) funding, public market, and debt financing into the solar sector in Q1 2022, came to $7.5 billion in 49 deals, a 51% increase compared to $5 billion raised in 32 deals in Q4 2021. However, funding was lower by 7% year-over-year (YoY) compared to Q1 2021.
