New EIB-backed energy efficiency fund to tackle ‘huge underinvestment’

Solas Sustainable Energy Fund to support energy efficiency projects mainly in Germany, Spain and Ireland and is aimed at small-to-mid-size insurers and pension funds

Switzerland-based investment firm Solas Capital is launching an innovative €200mn ($225mn) energy efficiency fund that aggregates small-ticket European energy-saving projects into larger investments attractive enough for institutional investors.  The fund, to which the European Investment Bank (EIB) is contributing €30mn, will launch on 31 January primarily to German-based insurance companies and pension funds. Sebastian Carneiro, managing partner at Solas Capital “There is this huge underinvestment in the energy efficiency sector,” Sebastian Carneiro, managing partner at Solas Capital, tells Transition Economist in an interview. “The sector is really in need of a new fund strategy, one