I was delighted to hear that Terra Firma was confirmed as the leading Venture Capital and Private Equity investor in the Bloomberg clean energy league table in 2011.
Renewable energy businesses fit the Terra Firma mould very well – they are rich in assets, operate in essential industries and have the potential for fundamental change.
Having recognised the importance of renewable energy, in 2003 we were early private equity investors in the sector.
That year we bought Waste Recycling Group and spotted the potential of its small landfill gas business. We have been investing consistently in the sector ever since – through acquisitions and capital expenditure.
As a result, we have grown that small landfill gas business into the UK’s leading independent pure renewable energy generator – now better known as ‘Infinis’.
In 2009 we bought EverPower, a wind energy business in the United States, as a second development platform through which to invest.
We topped Bloomberg’s league last year after investing in a third platform, the RTR Group inItaly. In March, we created RTR by acquiring a portfolio of photovoltaic (PV) plants from Terna, the operator of Italy’s high-voltage grid. It was the largest acquisition of solar generating assets that had taken place in Europe.
Since then, RTR has almost doubled its generating capacity by acquiring new plants. RTR is now over three times larger than its nearest solar rival in Italy.
We continue to see a lot of opportunities. Having acquired these three platform businesses, collectively they have invested more than €1 billion in developing their operations.
Tags: award, energy, EverPower, Infinis, private equity, renewable, RTR, WRG
