Renewable Power Capital was chosen by the IJGlobal ESG Awards 2024 independent panel of judges to win the European trophy in the investor category.

RPC has (at the time of writing) a pipeline of 3.8GW of solar in development and around 310MW of operational wind across Europe, making significant contributions to the energy transition, and the positive environmental and social impacts that accompany this.

Alongside progressing its existing wind and solar projects, in 2023 RPC ventured into another market key to the driving decarbonisation: energy storage.

RPC had no battery storage projects in its portfolio in 2022. And in a single financial year, it has grown its storage pipeline to more than 5.5GW across the UK, Finland, and Italy.

Together, these projects represent around €250 million of capital committed for acquisition and development, and will require more than €3 billion of additional capital for construction.

RPC in December (2023) entered into a JV with Elmya Energy to develop 4GW of BESS and co-located solar PV assets in the UK. Elmya contributed an existing pipeline of more than 2.5GW to the JV, including around 1.5GW of transmission-connected and around 200MW of distribution-connected projects at a late stage of development, in addition to 800MW of earlier stage projects. The first projects are expected to reach ready-to-build stage in 2025-26.

The portfolio offers the possibility of co-located solar, which is a particularly important feature for RPC as it provides natural hedging to its growing BESS UK power market exposure. The portfolio also includes projects throughout north/south England and Scotland, increasing RPC’s geographical diversification.

The connection of this existing pipeline of around 2.5GW of large-scale co-located BESS assets throughout the UK will be critical to supporting a flexible, decarbonised, and resilient grid.

RPC entered the Finnish market in March (2024) through the acquisition of a 50MW project from ib vogt.

As Finland’s renewables capacity grows at pace, it is increasingly reliant on battery storage to stabilise its grid to maintain this momentum. In such a fast-growing market, RPC’s project will contribute to grid stabilisation, helping to mitigate the risk of grid constraints and further accelerate the deployment of clean energy.

RPC’s specialist in-house technical team ran procurement and construction of the project – which started in H1, with completion expected in Q4 2025. The project will be funded on a fully merchant basis, bidding into ancillary services and wholesale power markets.

In March, RPC signed a 1GW development partnership with Altea Green Power targeting projects in Italy. By signing this partnership, RPC became one of the first foreign players in the market, paving the way for future investment on an international scale.

This deal also came at an expedient time politically, given the interesting progress in Italy’s regulatory landscape.

The development partnership is firmly committed to positive cooperation with local municipalities and stakeholders. This pipeline is expected to reach ready-to-build status in the next 2-4 years, with potential for expanding the cooperation beyond 1GW or into other technologies.