Investment boost for UK renewables firm

Sept. 24, 2013 - PRLog -- Koehler Renewable Energy GmbH, based in Oberkirch, Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany,has acquired a 26% stake in the vento ludens Group as part of a collaboration that will allow both firms to explore new opportunities in wind, solar and biomass energy.

Maximising opportunities and having a positive impact on operations is fundamental to the partnership, said Dr Jay Butler, managing director of Edinburgh-based vento ludens Ltd.

The company has several wind projects at various stages of development in Scotland including a recently consented 21 MW wind farm in Moray. It was also granted planning permission to build a 15.5 MW solar park, one of the UK’s biggest, in Bedfordshire in May of this year.

Koehler Renewable Energy GmbH, a subsidiary of the Koehler Group, which has been under family management for more than 200 years, was established in early 2012 because the Group wanted to increase its involvement in the renewable energy sector, particularly by investing in combined heat and power generation plants and wind energy.

Dr Butler said: “We are extremely excited about the investment by the investment which gives us the opportunity to develop our project pipeline and explore new opportunities at the same time.

“This is an ideal position to be in and we have a lot to look forward to in the future. Our priority continues to be realising renewable energy projects that will be sensitively and effectively designed, pose no threat to the natural environment and will contribute meaningfully to their communities.”

Koehler’s investment will strengthen the position of the whole vento ludens group across Europe and provide greater opportunities for the financing and operation of its projects, she added.

“The agreement is between two family-owned companies that have worked together for over a decade already.

“Over this time we have built up an excellent business relationship that is based on mutual trust and a shared vision of renewable energy.

“Both companies are committed to a future with renewables and will work together in order to achieve this vision”.

Notes:

·         vento ludens was founded in 1996 in Bavaria where it is headquartered.

·         The company has been working on renewable energy projects in the UK since 2005 and opened its first office, in South Charlotte Street, in 2008 where it currently employs 12 staff. A further three staff are expected to be recruited by the end of the year.

·         More recently an office in Switzerland was opened in 2008.

·         Overall the vento ludens group has 40 team members across all three countries.

·         vento ludens Ltd hopes to open a branch in Bristol and also to create a renewables hub outside of Edinburgh, which will host a first class education centre for renewable technologies, by 2017.

·         In March this year Koehler Renewable Energy GmbH acquired an 80% stake in GBE - Gocher Bioenergie GmbH and the remaining 51% of the shares in B E B Bio Energie Baden GmbH from RWE Innogy, a subsidiary of RWE Aktiengesellschaft, based in Essen and is now the only shareholder.

·         GBE operates a biomass cogeneration plant in Goch, North Rhine-Westphalia which generates up to 28MW of thermal energy steam and 7.6 MW of electricity from renewable fuels. The plant, launched last October, will supply Nähr-Engel, a manufacturer of potato products, with up to 130,000 metric tons of process steam a year.

·         B E B operates two biomass cogeneration plants in Kehl, south-west Germany, both of which generate steam (70 MW thermal energy) and electricity (11.8 MW) from renewable energy sources.