Railpen, formerly known as RPMI, runs the railways’ pensions schemes on behalf of its parent, the Railways Pension Trustee Company Limited. It manages £34 billion of assets on behalf of over 350,000 members.

Its investment will support AGR in achieving its target of putting over 500MW of high quality renewable assets into operation by 2029.

Railpen has committed to invest in AGR’s near-term UK solar, battery energy storage system (BESS), and greenhouse projects.    Its backing will enable construction before 2026 of 160MWp of solar arrays, of 150MW in BESS, as well as AGR’s second sustainable greenhouse.

London-based AGR was co-founded in 2011 by Oliver Breidt.

Besides bringing forward onshore wind projects in the UK and northern Ireland under the Feed-in Tariff, plus solar farms across southern England & Ireland, it is known for one of Britain’s biggest and most technologically advanced greenhouses, the Fenland Greenhouse near Ely, Cambridgeshire, pictured above.

The project spans 22 hectares and produces over 2.5 million vegetables every week at peak output. The complex is powered through a combination of water-sourced heat pumps and CHP gas engines, coupled with a back-up boiler. Fenland I greenhouse spans 60Ha and produces over 2.5 million cucumbers per week. The project was initiated in 2021 as a standalone greenfield development and delivered to Greencoat Capital, part of Schroder’s Capital, in 2022.

For Railpen, its AGR investment reflects its commitment to investing in infrastructure, including directing £500m to UK energy projects since 2019. The company will be represented on the AGR board by Lewis Vanstone and Cristiana Dochioiu. AGR’s co-founder Oliver Breidt will remain as group director.

Breidt said: “I’m incredibly pleased to announce our partnership with Railpen in what is a landmark move for us. Railpen’s investment and reputation will help propel AGR into new territories and technologies, including our 1GW pipeline in Italy, and see us expanding our presence in Germany and into further agricultural assets.

“I’m very pleased to be working with Lewis and Cristiana who bring with them a wealth of experience. This will be a transformative chapter for AGR and our mission.”

Dochioiu, investment manager at Railpen added: “AGR’s approach to sustainable infrastructure development and investment matches Railpen’s ethos for sustainability and providing essential infrastructure to the UK.

“We are excited to work with the AGR team and Oliver to further develop the pipeline at AGR and drive positive change through our investment portfolio, building the critical infrastructure needed to support the UK’s transition to net zero. Railpen’s scale and long-term approach makes us an ideal partner for AGR’s ambitions to enhance energy and food security in the UK and Europe.”

Railpen were advised by parties including CMS for legal services, Grant Thornton on financial and tax and Willis Towers Watson on insurance. AGR were advised by lawyers Eversheds Sutherland.

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The company already has operations in Britain and Australia. Now it is allying with Milan-based battery developer ACL Energy and BW ESS, a global storage firm.

ACL will lead its international partners towards satisfying the peninsular’s burgeoning demand for grid-scale batteries, expected to be one of Europe’s most active.  Italy’s transmission system operator Terna estimates that Italy will need around 27GW of energy storage capacity by 2033, accommodating a planned 120 GW+ of renewable generation connected to the Italian grid.

Each of the trio will become joint shareholders in three projects at development stage totalling 395MW connection capacity, and jointly fund them.

Penso Power CEO Richard Thwaites, pictured, said: “Italy is a priority market for us and the combination of skillsets that this joint venture brings together positions us to take a leading role in Italian energy storage.

“We have been working closely with BW ESS for several years and have benefitted from having them as a shareholder and project partner.  We regard the ACL team very highly and are delighted to formalise our partnership with them.”

The 111MW project in Lombardy and the 97MW project in Puglia have been submitted to the Italian Ministry of Energy for approval.  The 187MW project in Piemonte will be submitted for approval later this year.

ACL Energy managing partner Nicola Locascio said: “We are proud to enter this partnership with international players with such successful track record in the energy storage industry such as Penso Power and BW ESS”.

In October 2021 Penso and BW Group announced a joint venture agreement which commits BW to fund the build out of Penso Power’s UK project pipeline totalling more than 3GWh.

ACL Energy was advised by the law firm Eversheds Sutherland.  BW ESS and Penso Power were advised by the law firm Bird & Bird.

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The arrangement with Close follows the announcement that the Reading-based company has just completed a major equity raise of £65m. This gives Enviromena funding of up to £270m to facilitate the build out of its ever-growing pipeline.

In addition to the 500MW target, Enviromena will also utilise the funding to grow its self-developed ground mount solar pipeline to more than 2GW by 2025.

The firm says its pipeline is already looking strong, with over 400MW of projects set to be submitted into planning in the next six to nine months.

The funding will also enable the company acquire ready-to-build, fully consented solar projects from third parties to help turbo charge its growth plans.

Headquartered in Berkshire and with a regional office in Italy, Enviromena delivers transformative clean energy solutions across Europe. It vaunts more than 15 years’ global experience in developing, designing, constructing, managing and operating ground-breaking renewable energy projects.

Enviromena has already constructed over 120 solar farms in the UK and is set to announce the commencement of works on over 150MW of solar, include many due to commence in 2024.

Christina Allen, the developer’s chief legal officer added: “We are delighted to complete on this facility with Close Brothers. We have worked extremely hard to bring this together and create a long-term relationship allowing us to focus on growing the business and to build out our extensive pipeline. We are looking forward to working with Close over the coming years as we continue to contribute to the UK’s Net Zero ambitions.

Enviromena CEO Chris Marsh said: “Close Brothers have a strong track record in the renewables industry, so we are delighted to announce this latest arrangement.

“Enviromena is committed to leading the transition to a world powered by clean energy by providing safe, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions to customers across the UK and Europe.

Richie Kidd, head of sales for Close Brothers’ energy team, commented that “working closely with Enviromena for a number of years, we’re delighted to support the team in providing facilities that will allow them to grow their portfolio in both the construction and acquisition of projects.”

Pictured is the developer’s Bryngwyog solar farm in Wales.

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