Aviva Investors, the investment arm of insurer Aviva, and Irish renewable energy company Astatine have announced an US$928 million (€800 million) programme to accelerate clean energy adoption across Europe's industrial sectors.

The partnership will finance and develop renewable energy and decarbonisation solutions, including solar PV projects, battery energy storage systems (BESS), electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, and heat pumps. The initiative will focus on energy-intensive and hard-to-abate industries across the UK and mainland Europe.

According to the companies, a 128MW seed portfolio of electricity generation assets is already in place, with a further 500MW pipeline under development. These projects are expected to reach commercial operation within the next two years.

Angenika Kunne, head of infrastructure equity at Aviva Investors, said the investment would support industrial sectors in managing the energy transition "in a cost-effective way," while enhancing resilience against energy price volatility.

The move comes amid continued growth in Europe's industrial solar sector, which saw a 14% increase in rooftop installations between 2023 and 2024, according to SolarPower Europe. Despite a wider slowdown in residential and commercial rooftop markets, industrial deployments now account for 37% of Europe's solar capacity, suggesting sustained momentum in the industrial clean energy segment.

Source: pv-tech.org