Octopus Investments (Octopus) in partnership with Lightsource Renewable Energy (Lightsource), its dedicated in-house solar development company, has announced that it had successfully secured funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate and Institutional Banking (RBS CIB) and Dutch bank NIBC for six of its solar parks.
The £54.4 million funding package will enable Octopus to refinance its investment into the six solar parks, providing an opportunity to deliver returns to investors while continuing to work with Lightsource to expand its portfolio of solar investments.
Matt Setchell, head of solar at Octopus, said: “We are very pleased to have RBS’ and NIBC’s backing. The solar parks are high quality assets and the banks’ decision to provide funding for them reflects this. RBS and NIBC’s facility will enable us to continue to invest in solar on behalf of our investors and to deliver returns to them while continuing to support the UK solar market.”
Nick Boyle, CEO of Lightsource, added: “We are delighted to have received this funding package from RBS and NIBC, which is another fantastic milestone for Lightsource and which will hopefully lead to many more similar financings for our solar development portfolio.”
Andrew Buglass, head of Energy, Structured Finance, RBS, said: “We are pleased to support this project which represents a significant deal for Royal Bank of Scotland, and further endorses the expertise of our team.”
Octopus first invested in the solar parks in early 2011. The six sites that it has now successfully refinanced are: Benbole (1.7MW), Cornwall; Hawton (4.9MW), Nottinghamshire; Howton (5.0MW), Cornwall; Marston (4.5MW), Nottinghamshire; Sandhill (1.9MW), Somerset; and Wilburton (5.0MW), Cambridgeshire.
Octopus invests into solar projects on behalf of investors in some of its venture capital trusts, enterprise investments schemes and inheritance tax services. Over the last two years Octopus, in partnership with Lightsource, has deployed more than £300 million funds into solar and has become the largest solar investor in the UK.
