Australia Witnesses Launch Of New $100 Million Solar Income Fund

Melbourne-based investment funds manager Impact Investment Group has launched a $100 million Solar Income Fund.

The new unlisted $100 million Solar Income Fund launches with exclusive rights to acquire $60 million worth of Australian solar infrastructure projects in varying stages of construction. According to the Impact Investment Group (IIG), the Solar Income Fund is expected to deliver investors a stable, long-term return on cash with a 10% per-annum return. Participants will invest in “commercial and utility-scale Australian solar farms secured by long-term off-take arrangements to high credit quality counterparties including local and state governments.”

IIG also claims that during the lifetime of the Fund, the pool of assets is expected to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 1.2 million tonnes.

The Solar Income Fund is led by Lane Crocket, a renewable energy industry expert and the Head of Renewable Energy Infrastructure at IIG. The Fund will also be overseen by an independent board chaired by Ross Garnaut AO.

“This fund aims to provide attractive and stable returns to investors with positive social and environmental benefits,” said Ross Garnaut AO. “The IIG Solar Income Fund comes at a crucial time for the renewables sector. Bold steps by investors like IIG will support Australia’s utilization of its opportunity to be a superpower of the low carbon world economy.”

“We are enormously proud to be launching a renewable infrastructure fund of this magnitude, with an authority like Ross Garnaut AO and industry veteran Lane Crockett at the helm, and with the quality of pipeline assets that we have,” added IIG Chief Executive Officer Chris Lock. “This is a good news story all round. Our mandate is to bring product to the Australian market which blends financial returns with positive impact.”