OECD-Focused Solar & Battery Storage Fund Gets New Investors

• NPV ESG, the 5th strategy fund of NextEnergy Capital, has raised a total of $745 million in commitments 
• This comprises $265 million in the 2nd close, more than halfway to its $1.5 billion target reach; hard cap is capped at $2 billion 
• It plans to invest the proceeds into solar and battery storage projects in select OECD countries 

UK-based investment management business NextEnergy Capital has announced raising $745 million in total commitments for its OECD-focused solar and battery storage fund NextPower V ESG (NPV ESG). 

The target value of this fund is $1.5 billion with a $2 billion hard cap. Having raised $480 million in the 1st close, it has now secured $265 million for the 5th strategy fund in the 2nd close, taking the aggregate to $745 million. 

"The fund continues to draw significant interest from investors worldwide and I look forward to continuing our global fundraising activities and to announcing further investor commitments to NextPower V ESG and further fund investments shortly," said the CEO and Founding Partner of NextEnergy Group Michael Bonte-Friedheim. 

Fresh commitments in the 2nd close have been secured from a UK PGPS investment pool, a Dutch pension fund and another re-up from an existing NextPower III ESG investor. Existing investors in the fund include KLP, a German occupational pension fund, and a large Nordic pension fund. 

Investors expect to be paid dividends, even during the investment phase. 

The proceeds raised are targeted to be invested in solar and storage infrastructure projects in carefully selected markets, according to the plan as NextEnergy aims to build significant portfolios in each target market.  

It plans to divest the portfolio at the end of the fund's holding period in 2033 once it reaches the investment ceiling of around 4 GW. All of this capacity will generate enough clean energy to power approximately 1.1 million households. 

The investment company claims that the NPV ESG fund has already built an 18 GW strong pipeline, all of which is under exclusivity at present. The portfolio includes projects in Spain, Poland, Italy, Canada and the US.