The European renewable energy market is a ripe ground currently for new players to venture into, especially deep pocketed investors. 547 Energy LLC, the clean energy investment platform of private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners has announced a new Europe focused renewable energy entity, Aer Soléir. It has roped in Andy Kinsella, a clean energy industry veteran with over 35 years of experience, as Aer Soléir's founding partner and CEO.
Kinsella was previously the CEO of Ireland based renewables company Mainstream Renewable Power which he left in August 2020 for unexplained reasons and was replaced by Group CFO Mary Quaney (see Mainstream Renewable Gets New Group CEO).
Aer Soléir will be headquartered in Dublin, Ireland and mandated to develop, construct, own and operate a multi-GW portfolio of onshore wind, solar and energy storage projects across Europe.
Explaining the reason for launching a renewable energy platform now, Gabriel Alonso, CEO and President of 547 Energy, pointed towards the opportunities created by the European Green Deal in the form of a policy roadmap to transition Europe to a clean energy economy.
"We believe there is no better time than now to invest in the accelerating clean energy transition and are thrilled to partner with Andy as he leads the charge in this new venture," said Alonso.
As part of its business model, 547 Energy partners with leading entrepreneurs to invest in the clean energy economy and has invested in ConnectGen LLC which along with EDP Renewables purchased 3 solar projects with 278 MW AC combined capacity from First Solar in December 2019 (see First Solar Sells 278 MW To EDP Renewables & ConnectGen).
In February 2021, AMPYR Solar Europe was launched by Hartree Partners, AGP Group and NaGa Solar to develop 4 GW solar projects across the UK, Netherlands and Germany (see ASE Launched As Joint Venture For European Solar Market).