Aquila Capital has acquired six run-of-river hydro power plants from the Norwegian energy company BKK AS. The purchase price has not been disclosed.
The power plants, located near Bergen, Norway, produce approximately 70 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to the average consumption of about 3,500 households. The assets will be operated and managed by Småkraft AS, which is 100 percent financed by investment vehicles managed by Aquila Capital. Småkraft AS specializes in the operation and development of smaller run-of-river power plants in Norway.
The Nordic region is a highly attractive market for hydropower investments with a large number of existing run-of-river power plants, a mature renewable energy sector and a stable legal framework, according to a statement. There are a growing number of opportunities in the hydropower market for professional investors to invest.
“Run-of-river plants have among the best conversion efficiencies of all energy sources, with an efficiency factor exceeding 90 percent,” says Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and co-founder of Aquila Capital.
In the past two years, Aquila Capital has acquired wind energy projects and parks in Scandinavia with a capacity of approximately 400 megawatts. In October 2016, Aquila acquired a large wind power project in Lehtirova in northern Sweden. The wind park will have 41 Vestas V 126 3.6 megawatt turbines with an installed capacity of almost 148 megawatts once they are connected to the grid in 2018.
In its second investment in Sweden wind energy after Lehtirova, Aquila expanded its renewable energy portfolio in Scandinavia after acquiring Högkölen, a wind park in Sweden, in November 2016. Once connected to the grid in 2018, the wind park will have an installed capacity of 64.8 megawatts.
In addition, Aquila Capital recently acquired a wind turbine farm with an installed capacity of 14.4 megawatts on the coast of Finland near Kokkola. It is Aquila’s first wind project in Finland.