SDCL’s Founder and CEO Jonathan Maxwell catches up with Michael Liebreich in the latest episode of Cleaning Up.
Cheaper, cleaner and more reliable.
Buildings across Europe are in for a revamp. The ‘Renovation Wave’ strategy launched on October 14 has gone out big – pushing for a 60% reduction in emissions from buildings to be achieved through energy efficiency and fuel switching. Buildings are the single biggest contributor to final energy consumption in Europe, generating over one-third of emissions.
Central to the EU’s grand plan is an ambition to double the rate of energy efficiency renovations and renovate 35 million buildings by 2030. This would be 20 million more homes than is expected from current activity. But it is not only energy efficiency being targeted: The strategy also aims to reduce heating and cooling demand by a massive 18% over the next decade, which will be hard to reach.
BNEF estimates that doubling the renovation rate to 2% per year will decrease heat demand by 6% by 2030. Thus, building retrofits alone will not be sufficient to achieve the Commission’s heating demand goals. The strategy also sets a target for 4% of buildings per year to switch to low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps or district heating, which are more fuel-efficient than boilers. Achieving this target would mean that almost all new heating units bought in a given year would be low-carbon by 2026.
The renovation wave will cost 275 billion euros per year – triple the amount now spent on energy efficiency – with about 90 billion euros provided by public investment. No single dedicated fund has been established. Instead, the commission plans to leverage a combination of recovery and green investment funds. This would result in energy efficiency projects exhausting over three-quarters of the total funds available until 2030 alone.
The renovation wave also carries implications for existing EU policy. Part of the strategy is to revise existing requirements around minimum building standards and energy performance certificates. The EU ETS may also be expanded to include building emissions after a 2021 review, but BNEF finds it unlikely that this would occur much before 2030, if at all.
The strategy also mentions applying circular principles and utilizing sustainable materials but identifies only limited practical steps. Given that the construction and demolition sector is responsible for more than six times as much waste as households and that waste from the sector is expected to grow 33% by 2050, this will need to be addressed.
UK-based Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) has created a renewable energy division led by Alejandro Ciruelos and Javier Jimenez, who have joined SDCL from Santander Corporate & Investment Banking.
The pair will focus on developing innovative financing and investment solutions for utility-scale power generation and renewable energy projects, developers and investors. Ciruelos is a managing director and heads the renewable energy and power practice of the firm. He has 15 years of experience in structuring, financing, investing and raising capital for power and infrastructure projects and corporations.
Jimenez has 14 years of experience in the infrastructure sector. He was previously a managing director at Santander, heading up renewable energy, senior origination and execution.
SDCL Gears up for Growth with New Renewables Division and Welcomes Volery Capital Partners as New Investor
SDCL is pleased to announce that it has created a new renewable energy division led by Alejandro Ciruelos and Javier Jimenez who have joined SDCL from Santander Corporate & Investment Banking. They will focus on developing innovative financing and investment solutions for utility scale power generation and renewable energy projects, developers and investors.
This new division complements SDCL’s existing energy efficiency footprint and reaffirms SDCL’s commitment to becoming a global investor and advisor in energy efficiency and renewables. Alejandro and Javier have more than 30 years of combined experience and have previously advised on more than £10 billion of renewable energy transactions globally.
Alejandro is a Managing Director and heads the renewable energy and power practice of the firm. He has 15 years of experience in structuring, financing, investing and raising capital for power and infrastructure projects and corporations. Alejandro was a Managing Director and member of the executive leadership team of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking in London. He has led numerous high profile advisory and investment mandates for Santander including most recently, the £2.5 billion debt financing for the Moray East Offshore Wind farm owned by EDPR, Mitsubishi Corporation and Engie; the acquisition of CapeOmega by Partners Group in Norway.
Javier Jimenez has 14 years of experience in the infrastructure sector. He was previously a Managing Director at Santander heading up renewable energy, senior origination and execution. He has led numerous high profile investment and advisory mandates.
SDCL is also pleased to confirm that Volery, a private equity firm that provides growth capital to asset management and other businesses that generate positive environmental or social impact, has completed a growth equity investment in SDCL. Volery became a minority shareholder of SDCL, investing growth capital to support the next phase of the company’s expansion. Volery’s investment in SDCL was made through its previously announced strategic partnership with Ares Management Corporation (“Ares”) under which Ares became a minority shareholder of Volery and agreed to provide capital to support Volery’s operating and investment activities.
SDCL has continued to expand its areas of investment activity. Recently, in its capacity as investment manager to SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT.LN), SDCL advised on an agreement with Electric Vehicle Network Limited to acquire an initial 112 rapid and ultra-fast EV charging stations across the UK for a total consideration of up to £50 million, and the acquisition of a UK portfolio of efficient on-sire generation projects in the hotel sector for initial cash consideration of £5 million, with a £12 million follow on investment.
Jonathan Maxwell, CEO of SDCL: “We are very excited to have created our renewables division lead by leading industry practitioners as experienced and highly regarded as Alejandro and Javier. Their deep expertise in the renewables sector adds to SDCL’s established platform as we looks to capitalise on the increasing number of high quality opportunities in energy efficiency, renewables, and offshore wind. Similarly, our partnership with Volery will help us accelerate our growth plans and increase the development of clean and efficient energy solutions, which are critical to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) has created a new renewable energy division with the addition of Santander alums Alejandro Ciruelos and Javier Jimenez.
Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) has launched a new renewables division and has hired two former Santander executives to lead it.
Alejandro Ciruelos and Javier Jiménez have extensive experience in advising corporate operations, especially in renewable energy.
The British fund SDCL, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, today announced the creation of a new renewable energy division that will be led by Alejandro Ciruelos and Javier Jimenez, executives from Santander Corporate & Investment.
Sustainable Development Capital LLP has recruited Alejandro Ciruelos and Javier Jimenez from Santander to head up a new renewable energy division.
Volery Capital Partners has bought into SDCL’s shareholding, while the London-listed fund manager poaches another managing director from Santander.
UK-based investment firm Sustainable Development Capital LLP (SDCL) has formed a new renewables division that will be led by industry experts Alejandro Ciruelos and Javier Jimenez, who join from Santander Corporate & Investment Banking with over 30 years of combined experience.
