Onshore wind
17 February 2021
Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) today announced its acquisition of a 22 MW onshore wind farm in Scieki from the EnerCap Power Funds. The Project is located approximately 1 km north west of the village of Scieki and approximately 75 km south west of Warsaw in central Poland.
The project consists of 11 Vestas V90 2 MW wind turbine generators and has been operating for over eight years. The project helps avoid 39 kt CO2e in greenhouse gas emissions on average every year.
Poland is the largest electricity market in Central Eastern Europe1, but has historically had one of the lowest shares of renewable energy in its electricity generation mix in that part of Europe2. Currently, its electricity demand is predominantly met from an ageing fleet of coal and lignite power plants, which will need to be replaced with new generating capacity – making renewables deployment of growing importance.
The Scieki acquisition sees GIG continuing to play an active role in the growing Polish renewables market. By 2050, 52% of the country’s power generation is forecast to come from wind, solar and biomass3. Initial commercial operations of the Scieki wind farm during the handover to GIG will be undertaken by Curo Energy, the new specialist advisory company of the EnerCap group.
"Poland is becoming an increasingly important market for Green Investment Group. Last year, the country announced plans to set even higher targets to reduce its dependence on conventional energy generation by 2040 and we can play a role in accelerating this green transition."
Edward Northam
Head of GIG Europe
Including its activity in Poland, GIG is active in 12 countries across Europe, and over 25 countries globally. In its 2020 Progress Report, GIG announced that it had committed or arranged £2.9bn to support green energy projects and currently has over 250 projects in development and construction.4
"“Having been active in Poland for over 10 years, and with the EnerCap Power Funds expected to wind down this year, it was time to divest our assets in Poland including the Scieki wind farm. We are pleased to have played an early role in developing and contributing to Poland’s emerging wind sector.”
Shane Woodroffe
Director of EnerCap
The EnerCap Power Funds provided equity financing for over 420 MW of wind and solar PV projects in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland. The Scieki wind farm was the first direct wind farm investment by the EnerCap Power Funds in 2009, where the EnerCap team undertook construction and commercial operations management of the investment. The EnerCap Power Funds were advised on the sale of the Scieki wind farm by Domański Zakrzewski Palinka and Coriolis Green Investment Solutions.
Media enquiries
Scieki Onshore Wind Farm GIG Carbon Score
GIG’s Carbon Score is a measure of a project’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to the emissions of the baseline that it displaces. Projects with the lowest lifecycle emissions relative to the baseline would score the highest ratings from AAA to B. Projects with lifecycle emissions similar to the baseline would score a C, and projects with greater emissions would score a D or E. For further information on how we are advising clients on understanding the green impact of investments, please see green impact advisory.
About the EnerCap Power Funds Group
The EnerCap Power Funds were founded in 2007 raising over EUR 98 million in commitments from some of Europe’s leading institutional investors with a focus on clean energy investments in the new member states in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe as well as their nearest neighbours. The Funds are currently divesting their clean energy portfolio and the Scieki windfarm is the third exit following the divestment of windfarms in Croatia and the Czech Republic. Cornerstone investors in the EnerCap Power Funds include the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
EnerCap Capital Partners acts as general partner to the Guernsey-domiciled EnerCap Power Funds and its affiliate EnerCap s.r.o. acts as investment adviser to the Funds. Based in Prague and with representatives in Zagreb, Bucharest and Bratislava, EnerCap has built a dedicated team of investment, project finance, M&A and energy specialists providing turn-key investment management for the full life cycle of clean energy investments. More information is available at www.enercap.com
EnerCap Power Funds media enquiries
Tel: +420 227 316 222
Email: info@enercap.com
About Curo Energy
Curo Energy was set up by the founders of the EnerCap group to provide specialist construction and commercial operations management of clean energy projects. This experience has expanded into third party advisory on non-recourse financing aspects of clean energy projects in the CEE/SEE region as well as self-funded development of PV and wind projects. Alongside the wind-down of the EnerCap Power Funds, Curo Energy will grow to be the lead advisory vehicle for expanding the group’s clean energy activities across the CEE/SEE region.
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