Elgin Energy to double employee numbers following a near €300m investment

Solar power developer Elgin Energy could double jobs to 200 after luring Copenhagen Investment Partners as a new backer in a near €300 million deal.

Elgin develops solar electricity farms and battery storage in the Republic, the UK and Australia while Denmark-based Copenhagen Investment Partners is a leading green energy player, with control of €28 billion.

The pair confirmed on Wednesday that Copenhagen and Elgin’s management, including chief executive., Ronan Kilduff., are investing £250 million sterling (€292 million) in the solar developer.

Copenhagen will take a majority stake in the company, according to a statement, which noted that “retained management” would invest alongside its new backer. Neither said how they would split the investment.

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Elgin said that its executives would “remain substantial shareholders” and stay to build the business “which currently employs 100 people and will likely double in size over the next 12 months”.

The company added that the investment would help progress the development of part of the 15,000 mega watts of solar electricity and storage that it plans, and aid it in becoming an independent power producer in its own right.

Elgin focuses on getting projects through the planning process to the construction stage, at which point it sells the assets to buyers who finance the building and commissioning.

Copenhagen’s move will enable the firm to become an independent power supplier as the Danish group has its own expertise in procurement and construction.

Elgin has won backing from Irish and UK Government renewable energy support schemes for more than 30 projects. To date, it has completed the development of almost 2,000MW of “ready-to-build” generators and storage plants.

Late last year it sold 16 Irish projects with the capacity to generate 191MW of electricity to German insurer Allianz and a group of institutional investors.

Construction is scheduled to begin on those facilities this year, while 14 of them have contracts under the State’s Renewable Energy Support Scheme, which guarantees prices for the electricity they supply.

Elgin says that it has a 98 per cent success rate in getting planning permission for projects in all three countries in which it operates. The company has offices in Dublin, London and Sydney.

Mr Kilduff said Copenhagen Investment Partners was the ideal backer for Elgin’s “transformation” into an independent electricity supplier.

He added that its support would position the company to “achieve our ambitious goals, including our commitment to create over 100 new jobs at Elgin”.

Nischal Agarwal, partner in Copenhagen’s flagship investment team dubbed Elgin a “perfect fit” for the firm’s strategy, noting its planned projects had significant growth potential in attractive markets.

News of Copenhagen Investment Partners’ backing comes days after the State-owned Ireland Strategic Investment Fund announced this week that it had earmarked €200 million for the Danish firm’s latest fund.

That aims to raise €12 billion, making it the largest of its kind globally, for investment in green energy projects across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region.