Pioneering Cleantech Investor janom Backs Sale of €120m Wind Farm Assets to Acquila Capital

janom owned Tuulivoimayhtiö Pohjoistuuli Oy sells Finnish Soidinmäki and Tyrinselkä wind farms

The Finnish company, Tuulivoimayhtiö Pohjoistuuli, which is owned by janom, the Central European cleantech investment group, has sold wind farm assets in Finland to the German investment and asset development company, Acquila Capital. Part of the Aquila Group, which manages €15 billion in funds for institutional investors worldwide, this transaction is a significant exit for janom as the wind farm assets are valued at €120 million. It also validates janom’s decision to become an early investor in cleantech energy in Finland in 2012 and signals the growing maturity of cleantech innovation in Europe.

janom first invested in the Soidinmäki and Tyrinselkä wind farms through Finnish company Tuulivoimayhtiö Pohjoistuuli Oy at a time when the Government wanted to encourage wind farm development. In 2012, installed wind power capacity was only 231 MW, but this has risen significantly in subsequent years thanks to Finnish Government subsidies and more recently dramatic improvements in wind farm technologies such as the arrival of turbines with larger rotors on taller towers.

Today, Finland has an installed capacity 5,541 MW and the Soidinmäki and Tyrinselkä wind farms contribute 70 MW of installed capacity, showing how wind energy can have both a local and national impact in reducing carbon emissions. As a result of this investment in wind, the price of electricity in Finland is lower than in Central and Eastern Europe.

“At a time when Europe must move rapidly to secure its energy supplies and dramatically reduce its carbon emissions to meet netzero targets, wind farms are a crucial part of the solution,” said Andrej Srsen, CEO, janom. “Finland took an early decision to encourage investment in wind energy, which presented significant opportunities for janom to leverage its expertise in cleantech and build a robust business that has grown significantly in the last decade. It underlines the potential for cleantech investment across the whole of Europe and we are currently targeting Western Balkan countries, which are at a similar stage to Finland in 2012 and where the impact of these types of investments on climate is currently the highest.”

janom has been pioneering support for cleantech energy solutions since 2008, investing up to EUR €100 million in the early and risky phases of projects and companies. This has included building and operating several solar and hydropower plants in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is also one of the founding investors in Greenway, the largest operator of charging networks for electric cars in Poland and Slovakia, and janom holds a stake in the British company Wattstor, which specialises in optimizing energy management and the use of battery storage. Tuulivoimayhtiö Pohjoistuuli Oy has operated Tyrinselkä and Soidinmäki windparks through their entire life cycle, from preparation, through to the permit and the power purchase agreement, as well as the securing of bank financing for construction and overseeing the construction. It was also responsible for the day-to-day operating of the wind parks and following the agreement of the transaction partners, Tuulivoimayhtiö Pohjoistuuli Oy will continue to manage both wind parks for Aquila Capital.