Aurium Capital Markets has plans to raise up to £500 million (US$724.3 million) from institutional investors to support the renewable energy sector in the UK.

This amount will add to the £200 million (US$289.7 million) already raised by the company. The funds will be used to develop a portfolio fo biomass and Energy from Waste (EfW) plants in the UK. 

This firm sees the UK renewable energy sector as a big opportunity to invest due to the fact that the government has a plan to phase out all coal fired stations within 10 years. This is expected to increase the investment in renewable energy projects in the country. Steven Blase, Partner, Aurium Capital Markets explained:

“The decision to remove coal fired stations increases the risk of the lights going out in the UK because it will have a negative impact on our energy capacity. 

“Coal’s share of UK electricity generation was 30% in 2014, and renewables accounted for approximately 19%. This winter, for example, our overall excess energy capacity is just 1.5%.

“The announcement over coal makes the UK’s reliance on renewables even stronger, and we believe that the growing focus from investors for assets that provide long term steady returns with low or no correlation to other more mainstream asset classes makes this an increasingly attractive investment proposition for institutional investors.” 

In October last year, IPP Journal reported that Aurium Capital Markets along with Infracapital, the infrastructure investment arm of M&G Investments, Foresight Group, and Helios UK BIG, launched the Bioenergy Infrastructure Group (BIG), a platform established to invest in the construction of biomass and Energy from Waste (EfW) plants in the UK.