Octopus Energy drives solar power in Iberia with new partnership

Octopus Energy’s generation arm expands green power in Iberia by investing in renewables developer FF New Energy Ventures (FFNEV) to develop more cheap green power, reducing fossil fuels reliance.

The Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP) investment in Spanish-founded FFNEV will scale activity in Spain and Portugal and accelerate expansion into new European countries and Latin America in the future. This marks Octopus’ first entry into Portugal’s green generation market.

FFNEV has 2.1GW of renewable projects in their pipeline already and is also participating in floating offshore wind development with a target of 5GW. With this latest funding they’re targeting 1.6GW new solar and storage sites in these markets by 2030. This could power nearly 1 million homes, avoiding 945,000t of CO₂, the equivalent of removing nearly 520,000 petrol cars and planting over 4.6 million trees.

Spain is one of Europe’s most active solar markets, with 15GW of solar capacity, and huge untapped potential to meet targets to increase its renewable electricity generation to 74% by 2030. Portugal has 2GW of solar power – and this year announced plans to generate 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2026 to replace gas-fired electricity generation.

The €220m OEDP fund, which was launched in September this year and is managed by Octopus Energy’s generation arm, invests in early stages of new green energy generation. OEDP has so far invested in UK renewables developer Exagen to build one of Britain’s largest batteries and in Nexta to create 1.1GW of green energy in Italy. The partnership with FFNEV marks the fund’s third investment, with more coming up across Europe.

Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, comments, “Now more than ever before, we need to build more green power to help reduce gas reliance and bring down energy bills. Investments like this deal with FFNEV will help make a difference quickly. This latest news is only the beginning for us – as we’ve got big plans in this part of Europe.”

Vicente Lopez-Ibor Mayor, Chairman of FFNEV, says, “We founded and started FFNEV in 2018 and have been busy developing a top-quality pipeline in Iberia, driven by our successful, recognised and experienced team. We’re delighted to be building on our longstanding relationship with Octopus and have no doubt this latest backing will accelerate FFNEV’s growth in Iberia and abroad.”

Roberto Giner, CEO of Octopus Energy Spain, says, “We’ve always been driven by our commitment to transform the energy system to 100% renewables. This latest news is an exciting milestone in Octopus’ journey in Spain as we continue to grow our footprint.”

This latest renewables deal is the next step in Octopus’ strategy in Spain. Octopus Energy Spain launched as a retail energy supplier in August 2021 after acquiring green energy start-up Umeme, offering customers 100% green energy tariffs.

In August 2022, Octopus Energy Spain acquired the solar division of Valencian company Solger Energy. Solger Energy became part of Octopus Energy’s Services arm in Spain, with the target to complete more than 80,000 household solar installations in Spain in five years.