Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has established a European renewable energy platform based in the UK.

Renewable Power Capital (RPC) will be funded by the C$457bn (€291bn) pension fund’s C$9.1bn power and renewables investment strategy and will invest in solar, onshore wind and battery storage, among other technologies, across Europe.

Bob Psaradellis, formerly of GE Energy Financial Services, will act as CEO of the company which will be majority-owned by CPP Investments but will operate independently.

RPC will be chaired by Shaun Kingsbury, formerly CEO of the UK Green Investment Bank, now owned by Macquarie.

The management team includes Mark Hanson as general counsel and chief operating officer, Mariano Berges as chief commercial officer, Steve Hunter as director of power markets, and Daniel Szentirmai as principal.

RPC will aim to build a scalable and diversified pan-European platform, initially targeting development, ready-to-build and operating assets.

Psaradellis said: “Our new platform is open to investments, initially in the Nordics and Spain, and expanding to other European jurisdictions thereafter.

“Drawing on our deep expertise in the sector, we can work together in partnership with developers, wind and solar equipment manufacturers, construction companies, and investment partners as the market continues to mature and addresses long-term structural change.

“We have a well-developed pipeline of opportunities and expect to make our first investment in early 2021.”

The platform will have access to “flexible capital” from CPP Investments, allowing it to structure investments in line with changing market dynamics and different risk-return profiles available.

Bruce Hogg, managing director and head of power and renewables at CPP Investments, said: “The establishment of RPC brings together our long-term, flexible capital and a management team with a depth of expertise and sophisticated understanding of the European renewable energy market.

“The business is well positioned to create value through enhancing routes to market, driving more efficient commercialisation strategies and making improvements to assets’ capital structures as many European renewables markets transition towards a subsidy-free regime.”

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