A subsidiary of UK's Octopus Group, Octopus Investments Australia has launched a renewable energy 'platform' in Australia raising AUD 10 billion from institutional and wholesale investors to finance the entire project lifecycle for solar, wind and storage technologies.
It has simultaneously closed 2 funds both of which have achieved their target fund raise. The Octopus Australia Sustainable Investments (OASIS) and the Octopus Renewable Energy Opportunities (OREO) funds were open to institutional and wholesale investors, respectively.
These now have access to Octopus Australia's utility scale energy and storage portfolio. To start with, the OASIS and OREO funds have jointly acquired Australia's largest operational solar project in New South Wales (NSW), the 333 MW DC/275 MW AC Darlington Point Solar Farm.
According to a statement by the company, the platform will support projects right from development to coming online, and also include facilities generated by its joint venture company with Desert Springs Renewables, Desert Springs Octopus.
"The Octopus Group's approach to investing in renewable energy has developed globally over the last 15 years. As such, we saw early on the massive opportunity in Australia and how a portfolio approach to the market could align our institutional customers (in OASIS), alongside our family office and advised investors (in OREO) to create defensible and sustainable value into the future," said Octopus Australia's Managing Director Sam Reynolds.
Among institutional investors who have invested in OASIS are Australian superannuation fund Hostplus, Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Octopus Renewables' Sky Fund.
As of now, the Octopus platform has a secured portfolio of RMB 3 billion across wind, solar and storage projects and has a visible pipeline of an additional RMB 5 billion.
In April 2022, Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust invested in a new platform to target 400 MW onshore wind and solar parks in Finland (see Octopus Commits €3.5 Million For Finnish RE).