UAE-backed climate fund Alterra committed EUR 50 mn to Italian renewables platform Absolute Energy via the Alterra Acceleration Fund, according to a press release. Absolute Energy specializes in small to medium-scale solar projects in Italy, which has a national target of upping its solar capacity to 46 GW by 2030.

The details: The co-investment — made alongside US-based infrastructure firm I Squared Capital — will support the development of an initial 1.4 GW worth of solar and battery storage capacity across Italy, as well as Absolute Energy’s broader development pipeline of over 6 GW. The move is predicted to avoid 380k metric tons of CO2 emissions annually in its initial phase.

This marks the third co-investment for Alterra, which deployed USD 100 mn into Indian renewables firm Evren in April — Alterra’s first Global South Investment — alongside Brookfield and other co-investors. The fund, unveiled during COP28 and set to mobilize USD 250 bn in green investments by 2030, also deployed USD 100 mn to back French renewables developer Neoen, Alterra CEO Majid Al Suwaidi told Reuters.

REFRESHER- The acceleration fund was struggling to deploy capital, amid what CEO Majid Al Suwaidi described last year as a lack of viable projects in the energy transition space. Alterra committed USD 6.5 bn to seven investment strategies managed by BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, and TPG, though the actual funds deployed are significantly less.

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