London, July 1st, 2024 – NextEnergy Capital is pleased to update on the achievements of NextPower UK ESG, including asset growth and further fundraising momentum, over the last six months.

Fundraising:

• Additional capital has been added in H1, taking total funds committed to date to £653 million, exceeding the fundraising target of £500 million by 30%.
• NextEnergy Capital continues to build on its positive fundraising momentum with several investors currently in late-stage due diligence with further capital expected to be announced imminently.
• Continuing to push towards NPUK ESG’s hard cap of £1 billion.

Portfolio & Pipeline:

• New assets have been added to the portfolio increasing total capacity to 497MW across ten assets.
• Successfully energised its third utility-scale solar asset, Pentlow (Essex, 24MW), increasing NPUK’s operating capacity to 138MW.
• 221MW of solar assets are currently under construction and making good progress.
• 86MW of capacity qualified for the 6th CfD Allocation Round auction which will take place in August 2024. If successful, the share of CfD assets in the current fund portfolio will be over 70%, providing inflation-linked, long-term fully contracted revenues.
• Over c.1.4GW of pipeline secured for NPUK, with a further c.2GW currently under negotiation.
• Preferential access to projects from in-house developer Starlight provides a significant sourcing advantage alongside long-standing relationships. Projects at ready to build stage are transferred at a 15% discount to market value, equating to a savings of £12.62 million for the Fund thus far.

Acquisitions:

• Ten assets acquired to date, including two operational seed assets, Llanwern, (South Wales, 75MW), and Strensham (Worcestershire, 40MW) that had been built for the fund.
• The Fund’s most recent acquisition was in November 2023 with Project Hatherden, adding an additional 60MW, plus a 7MW co-located battery energy storage system, to the Fund.
• NPUK ESG has already deployed over 70% of the Fund’s target size to date.

Return:

• The fund has delivered returns in excess of its target due to the ongoing strong performance of NPUK ESG’s operational solar assets.
• NPUK ESG leverages NEC’s track record of successful investments in the solar+ infrastructure sector since 2007, with over 400 utility-scale projects acquired and previous funds delivering superior financial returns to investors.
• NPUK is a private UK solar fund that focuses on acquiring utility-scale solar and battery storage (“BESS”) assets at the ready-to-build stage, constructing them through energisation in order to build a large operating portfolio of solar and BESS assets. Once the assets are operational, NPUK monetises its power sales through a fully contracted strategy which takes a hands-on approach to risk mitigation and value creation whilst optimising assets over the fund’s life.

ESG:

• Classified as an Article 9 Fund under the EU SFDR providing tangible and measurable impact including biodiversity measures.
• Once fully deployed at approximately 2GW capacity, NPUK will provide enough clean energy to power around 500,000 UK households per year, making a significant ESG impact in the UK.

Michael Bonte-Friedheim, NextEnergy Group CEO and Founder, said:
“We are delighted with the significant milestones that NextPower UK ESG has achieved over the last six months and since its inception. I am proud that NPUK has total funds committed to date of over c.£653m, which is 30% above the target of £500m. This is a testament to NextEnergy Capital’s leadership in the solar energy sector. As a private new-build solar strategy that focuses on acquiring utility-scale solar assets at the ready-to-build stage in the UK, NPUK investors benefit from the market leading expertise we bring alongside our hands-on approach to value creation and asset optimisation.”

Shane Swords, Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations at NextEnergy Capital, quoted:
“The first half of 2024 has continued the strong momentum from NPUK’s launch in August 2022. NPUK continues to demonstrate solid progress through multiple milestones, in addition to already distributing strong dividends to its investors. NPUK’s success is underpinned by its large pipeline and swift capital deployment, which commenced just seven weeks after the fund’s first close, with the fund now having nearly 500MW. The Fund will provide clean energy generation for approximately 500,000 UK households annually.

All NEC Funds are experiencing strong fundraising momentum, which can be attributed to our track record, lengthy experience in the sector and the value that investors are now attributing to specialist managers.”