Albion Ventures has invested £1.5 million in a joint venture with Infinite Energy to fund the development of a single 500kWp wind turbine in Wales.
Albion Ventures has invested £1.5 million in a joint venture with Infinite Energy to fund the development of a single 500kWp wind turbine in Wales.
A special purpose vehicle, which will be owned by Albion’s funds and Infinite Energy, will be created following the investment that plans to take advantage of the government’s Feed-in-Tariffs (FIT).
Under the FIT scheme, created in April last year, the government pays homeowners, businesses and organisations for producing electricity using small-scale green energy installations such as solar panels and wind power.
The venture signals a first move into wind for Infinite, which has formerly concentrated on solar power. The business aims to generate its first electricity at the brownfield site near Ebbw Vale, Wales, in January next year.
According to a statement from the firm, the installation will create enough clean energy to power 325 households, although, most of the energy will be used onsite by a tile manufacturer, offsetting up to 740,000 kilograms of CO2 per year.
It is Albion’s sixth investment in the environmental sector and the fourth in the past year following its two Solar PV investments and an investment in a waste to energy Anaerobic Digestion plant in the Scotland.
Albion partner Michael Kaplan comments, ‘Using finance from our VCT funds, Albion is continuing to grow its allocation in the renewable energy sector. We expect this investment to provide a strong, stable source of income for our funds for many years, with the possibility of significant gain when we eventually sell the investment.’
Will David, partner at Infinite Energy, adds, ‘Albion Ventures has a clear understanding of the renewables sector. Their investment in this project is a huge boost to realising our goal of providing green, low cost energy to business sites and we look forward to developing this, as well as future wind projects, in partnership with Albion.’
