Aquila Capital has expanded its renewable investment strategy to include energy efficiency investment in Europe.
The Hamburg-based real asset specialist has launched the Aquila Capital Energy Efficiency Strategy to target small to medium-sized energy efficiency projects, a strategy it said has invested in a street lighting project in Italy.
Aquila said the Italy project will be replacing and operating street lighting systems under long-term concession agreements within a cluster of eight municipalities in central Italy.
The newly launched strategy’s portfolio is expected to include energy efficiency investment opportunities like the installation of biomass heating systems, ventilation technologies, block-type thermal power stations or roof-mounted photovoltaic plants for self-consumption.
Roman Rosslenbroich, co-founder and CEO of the Aquila Group, said: “In our day-to-day interactions with institutional investors we see a substantial and continuous appetite for European energy efficiency investments.
“By expanding our renewable investment strategy to energy efficiency, we can build on our existing expertise in renewables and real estate to offer investors meaningful investment opportunities.
“Our investments are characterized by an attractive and stable risk-return profile due to largely contractually fixed cash flows and very limited exposure to fluctuations in the financial markets.”
Franco Hauri, senior investment manager, energy efficiency team, said: “Unlike other investors in the market, our strategy focuses on financing not just large multi-million projects but also on financing small and medium-size energy efficiency projects for industrial and commercial companies or public entities and implementing these projects in partnership with experienced project development companies, including Energy Service Companies, global technology suppliers and installation companies.”
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