Triodos to raise £7m for renewables investment

One of Europe's leading green investment firms has announced plans for a new share issue designed to help fund its renewable energy acquisition drive.

Triodos Renewables, the renewable energy investment arm of ethical banking specialist Triodos, has announced today that it aims to raise up to £7m through a new share issue.

The share issue, which follows a successful issue in 2008 that raised £9.9m, will be open to both existing shareholders and new investors willing to stump up a minimum of £50,050.

The new funding is expected to help finance a significant expansion of Triodos UK's clean energy portfolio. The company operates five renewable projects across the UK, and has two projects due to come on stream in 2010 after recently completing the acquisition of a 9.2MW wind farm project in North Wales.

In addition, the company has an option to acquire a 5MW wind farm in East Anglia which already has planning consent and is set to be completed by the end of next year as well as exclusive options to acquire further sites with a combined generation capacity of 25MW.

Echoing recent analyst predictions that the recession has left a number of renewable energy projects looking undervalued, Matthew Clayton, operations director of Triodos Renewables, said it was a "good time to invest in renewable energy".

He added that the company was now well positioned for further expansion. " This has been a strong period of growth for Triodos Renewables," he said. "The North Wales acquisition alone has increased our generating capacity by 40 per cent and put the funds we raised in 2008 to good use for our shareholders. The new share issue will mean we can build our renewable asset base and continue to fight the impact of climate change."