Octopus Investments has provided refinancing to the tune of £174m to Melton Renewable Energy UK to strengthen its biomass and landfill gas portfolio.
Image: Image: Pieces of wood used in biomass. Photo: Courtesy of Louis Smith/Unsplash
The refinancing of Melton Renewable Energy UK will include £152m term loan, £10m revolving credit facility and £12m debt service reserve facility.
The funding package was provided by 6 major banks including National Westminster Bank, HSBC UK Bank, AIB Group (UK), Investec Bank, Barclays Bank and Banco de Sabadell.
Octopus acquired the biomass portfolio of 172MW in 2015 and it includes 5 biomass plants and 22 landfill sites. All of the biomass projects are dedicated biomass plants, as opposed to co-firing plants and they are sourced from a variety of sustainable livestock from the UK including poultry litter, meat and bone meal, horse bedding, and forestry wood chips.
Octopus is one of the largest non-utility investors in onshore renewables in the UK and is also one of the largest solar players in Europe with £2.6bn portfolio of clean energy assets, totaling 2.02GW.
It has been investing in solar, wind, biogas, biomass, landfill gas and reserve power assets and is working with a mission to address the inefficiencies in energy market by offering smart technology-led solutions based on innovation and customer focus.
Octopus Investments energy investments head Matt Setchell said: “Following our record breaking solar refinancing last year, once again the Octopus team has delivered another significant transaction with this funding package for the biomass and landfill portfolio that we manage.
“As the UK’s largest non-utility investor in onshore renewables, we continue to set the benchmark high for negotiating market leading debt financings with innovative features such as a flexible fuel procurement and usage of short term PPAs to drive value.”