Clean Energy Investors To US Politicians: La-La-La-La – CleanTechnica

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Certain US politicians have been blowing a lot of hot air against renewable energy investing, but the hits just keep on coming. The latest example is the Estonian firm Sunly, which has just nailed down a megadeal of €300 million in debt financing to rush new wind, solar, and energy storage facilities into Poland and the Baltic states. The new round of financing is aimed at helping Europe cut its dependence on natural gas from Russia.

€300M For More Renewable Energy

I’m reporting from Estonia for CleanTechnica this week,* and the news about Sunly hit just around the time I got off the plane in Talinn. I’ll have more insights from representatives of the company later this week when we have a chance to meet in person. In the meantime, a press statement from Sunly describes the new round of funding as reflective of “strong market confidence” in its ability to lead the regional energy transformation in the Baltic region.

They are not kidding. The new €300M round of funding involves the powerful group Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Rivage Investment, a sustainability-facing independent management group with 22 funds under its umbrella.

Also participating in the renewable energy love fest was the largest pension company in Norway, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, through funds managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

That’s just for starters. The €300 million infusion brings the debt and equity capital funding for Sunly up to a total of €765 million. Previous rounds of funding included French firm Mirova and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), among other banks.

More Renewable Energy For Baltic States

That’s going to pay for a lot of renewable energy. Sunly aims to steer the new financing to develop wind and solar arrays in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, as well as Estonia. All in all, Sunly plans on adding 1.3 gigawatts of renewable energy to the grid.

The plan is already unfolding at a rapid clip. “One of the first projects to benefit from this financing is the 244 megawatt Risti solar park in Estonia, which can cover the annual electricity consumption of 55,000 households,” notes Sunly, which has developed a hybrid approach that deploys energy storage to ensure a steady supply of electricity.

“Sunly intends to develop integrated hybrid parks that combine wind, solar and energy storage batteries at single connection point and direct line to consumers,” the company explains. The idea is to reduce grid connectivity charges, which Sunly anticipates would otherwise account for more than 50% of the total cost of energy.

“The approach is expected to significantly benefit consumers, particularly large industrial clients with high energy consumption, by enhancing regional energy security and operational efficiency,” Sunly adds.

Also included in the first round of construction are four solar arrays in Latvia, with a combined capacity of 553 megawatts. “These Latvian parks are also designed as hybrids, with eventual plans to integrate wind or battery storage, or a combination of both,” Sunly emphasizes.

Energy Independence For Baltic States

Speaking of energy security, Sunly is not shy about pointing out shortcomings in the current state of affairs.

The company cites a Clean Energy Wire report indicating that EU nations imported more natural gas from Russia in May 2024 than it did in September of 2022, just a few months after Russia launched its unprovoked attack on Ukraine in February of 2022.

The difference is not a matter of hairsplitting, either. Assuming the information Clean Energy Wire is accurate, EU nations bought 30% more gas from Russia in May this year compared to September of 2022.

“In the Baltic states and Poland, Russia’s significant influence in the regional energy market has historically exposed these areas to price fluctuations and supply disruptions associated with geopolitical tensions, often leading to higher energy costs for consumers than in other European nations,” Sunly pointed out in today’s press statement.

Sunly also used the occasion to draw attention to the forthcoming decoupling of grid connections between Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the BRELL grid of Russia and its ally Belarus. Ukraine already islanded itself off from Russia just a few weeks after the February 2022 invasion.

“The move creates a more favorable environment for the renewable energy plans of the other three states,” CleanTechnica observed in July. “That includes tapping the vast offshore wind energy resources of the Baltic sea, such as the 1-gigawatt ELWIND project working its way through the pipeline” (see more Baltic energy background here).

Renewable Energy Investors To US Politicians: Say Again?

It’s no secret that the movement against renewable energy investment in the US is a strictly partisan affair, with Republicans lined up in lockstep against efforts to accelerate the domestic energy transition.

Nevertheless, cracks are appearing in the dam. A gigantic one appeared in 2022, when President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. The new law has already moved the needle on new, innovative strategies for financing renewable energy and energy storage projects. Its impact will continue to spin out for years to come, regardless of the self-serving fuss kicked up by Republican officials.

Public office-holders who are opposed to renewable energy investing also have to contend with a global financial ecosystem that puts green investing front and center.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, for example, tasked its Green Credit Fund I with co-leading Sunly’s new round of investment. The fund launched in 2022 with a seed round of €320 million and closed out in 2023 with more than €1 billion in hand.

“CI GCF I is CIP’s first debt fund and provides private project finance debt with subordinated risk characteristics supporting renewable energy projects globally,” CIP explains, noting that transmission projects are included in its areas of focus along with offshore wind, onshore wind, solar arrays, biomass, and energy storage in Europe, North America, and parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

“The fund provides investors access to an asset class with substantial growth momentum, attractive risk-adjusted returns, and low correlation to other asset classes,” CIP emphasizes.

Hold onto your hats. CIP is flagshipped in the US by its massive, 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind offshore renewable energy project in Massachusetts. Despite some hitches, including a blade failure that occurred in June, the project is well underway. Once completed, Vineyard Wind will be the first of many large scale offshore wind farms in the waters of the US, opening the door to a whole new energy industry.

*This technology tour is kindly supported by the organization Trade Estonia, through the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency.

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Image (cropped): The Estonian firm Sunly is laying ambitious wind, solar, and energy storage plans for the Baltic region, and top renewable energy investors are here for it (courtesy of Sunly).