Investec to purchase green power

Specialist investment bank Investec has revealed plans to create a company focussing on one of the key gaps in the renewable energy market – power purchase agreements.
The Australian Financial Review has reported that the bank, which has created a number of greenfields renewable projects in Australia, is backed with around $30 million rom third party investors and will look for long term power purchase deals.
Investec’s model has been to develop renewable projects, such as the $750 million Collgar wind farm in Western Australia, and then sell them onto institutional investors such as superannuation funds.
The new Investec PPA company will purchase renewable energy, primarily from wind farms, and then on-sell that in shorter contracts to the larger utilities which have so far been reluctant to enter into the PPA’s which renewable projects have needed.
Investec’s head of power investments, Mark Schneider, told the AFR that he believed the bank could “put together a very compelling investment opportunity.”
The new company could start signing up to power contracts next year.