Octopus Energy announces £625m investment and software acquisition

The clean energy group announced the investment of £625 million ($800 million) days after an acquisition from Octopus Energy-owned Kraken Technologies of the advanced renewable energy management software provider Sennen.

Octopus Energy Group, the UK’s largest power supplier and owner of the Kraken technology platform, announced the additional investment from its existing shareholders, valuing the private company at £6.2 billion ($7.8 billion), a 60% increase since its previous investment round in December 2021.

Australian and Japanese giants Origin Energy and Tokyo Gas, one of the world’s largest pension funds, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), and sustainability-focused investors, Generation Investment Management are all participating in this round.

The investment is hoped to accelerate the company’s international growth, expand its portfolio of low-carbon technologies, especially heat pumps and create 3,000 green jobs in the UK in 2024.

Greg Jackson, Founder of Octopus Energy Group, said in a release: “Octopus Energy’s focus on customer service and technology has not only driven us to market leadership in UK power, but we’ve built the UK’s leading specialist electric vehicle leasing business, in just two years we’ve almost doubled our renewable generation portfolio to £6 billion ($7.6 billion), and tripled the contracted accounts on our technology platform Kraken from 17 million to 52 million.”

Added Nobuhiro Sugesawa, chief digital officer at Tokyo Gas: “Tokyo Gas has been advancing the retail electricity business in Japan through our joint venture, TG Octopus Energy, with Octopus Energy and most recently, we have started cooperating in renewable energy investments in Europe.

“Tokyo Gas believes that technology innovation is essential for future corporate growth. Through our partnership with Octopus Energy, we aim to provide our customers with services using the latest technology and clean energy. We look forward to growing with Octopus Energy.”

Have you read:
Tokyo Gas licenses Kraken to digitalise operations
Abu Dhabi’s TAQA to trial Kraken platform

Kraken acquisition

The investment was followed closely on the heels of Kraken Technologies’ acquisition of asset management platform Sennen, to improve their renewable management capabilities.

Sennen provides advanced software for the delivery and operation of large-scale renewable energy generation. Kraken on the other hand aims to connect all parts of the energy system, from customer billing to flexible management of renewable generation and energy devices.

The Sennen software uses cloud technology to streamline oversight, maintenance and daily operation of renewable energy projects. Joining forces with Sennen is hoped to enhance Kraken’s asset management offering.

Namely, the acquisition will increase Kraken’s contracted energy generation and storage assets sixfold, growing them from 6.5GW to 36GW. It also marks the first time the platform will be actively managing the operation of offshore wind farms.

Players in asset management have traditionally relied on legacy systems, lacking the bleeding-edge tech that modern renewable energy operations demand. Sennen’s in-depth maintenance and analytics platform supports thousands of sites including offshore wind farms, solar farms and grid-scale batteries.

Kraken is currently contracted to manage over 6.5GW across 130,000 green energy assets in 12 countries.

Devrim Celal, CEO of Kraken, commented in a release: “This acquisition is a game-changer for us as we continue to disrupt the renewable energy landscape.

“Sennen’s expertise and innovative solutions perfectly complement our mission to provide efficiency and scalability to asset managers. We are excited to join forces with Sennen’s talented team to turbocharge the move to a cleaner, cheaper energy world.”

Gaby Amiel, CEO of Sennen Tech Ltd, added: “Our energy system needs to be completely rethought and rewired in order to operate free from fossil fuels. With renewable energy capacity set to triple globally, Sennen’s focus on meeting the challenges faced by renewable project owners will be of increasing importance.

Sennen was advised on the acquisition by Bristol-based Roxburgh Milkins.