Enercon initiates fund platform for institutional investors

In order to advance the marketing of onshore wind projects in Germany and Europe, ENERCON has initiated a fund platform for investors. The ‘ENERCON Wind Onshore Deutschland I’ fund has been launched as the first investment product. The fund has been designed as a closed-ended reserved alternative investment fund (S.A., SICAV-RAIF). The fund was able to secure two large public law insurance companies as anchor investors. The subscribed capital exceeded the investment volume of €50 million by almost double.

EB – Sustainable Investment Management GmbH (EB-SIM), a 100% subsidiary of the Evangelische Bank, will function as investment advisor. Universal Investment has been commissioned as Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM). On the sales side, the Warburg Bank offered support. 

The ‘ENERCON Wind Onshore Deutschland I’ is investing in five German wind farms that are already in operation. The wind farms comprise 31 ENERCON wind energy converters with a total nominal power of 79 megawatts. Together they generate around 135 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy every year, which corresponds to the average consumption of almost 40,000 German households. All of the projects will receive a fixed feed-in tariff under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) for 20 years. ENERCON will take over the maintenance and servicing of the wind energy converters for 25 years.

The professional partners mean the investment risk is reduced for investors. ‘The platform thus offers a suitable answer to the rising demand for investments in renewable energies in a regulated environment’, says Peter Kossmann, manager of the fund project at ENERCON. 

ENERCON CEO Momme Janssen adds: ‘This platform puts ENERCON in a position to be able to offer tailored investment opportunities for investors. We see this offering as an additional aspect of customer support for those customers who would like access to investment opportunities in renewable energies, and of our general aim to continue driving forward the use of renewable energies and onshore wind energy in particular. After all, we do not have any problems with investments in onshore wind energy projects, but rather with the further expansion of onshore wind. Politicians urgently need to tackle this issue so that wind expansion in Germany finally gets the fresh boost it needs.’