Octopus rolls out €220 million to drive green power generation, backs Exagen to build largest battery in UK

British renewable energy group specialising in sustainable energy, Octopus Energy Group has unveiled a €220 million fund to drive new green power generation to reduce Europe’s gas reliance. Dubbed the Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), the fund will back early stages of building new green energy, vital to help reduce Europe’s dependence on gas imports and to lower energy bills in future.

Managed by Octopus Energy Generation, OEDP will focus on solar, onshore wind and energy storage projects in the U.K. and the rest of Europe. There’s also potential to optimise assets through KrakenFlex, Octopus’ rapidly growing flexibility and trading platform, which currently manages 1,300 MW of green energy assets.

The fund has already made its maiden investment in renewables developer Exagen to build new green energy and rapidly grow the energy storage capacity in the U.K. OEDP will take a 24% stake in Exagen.

Partnering with farmers, landowners and local communities to build projects that help bring energy security, Exagen works on large-scale solar and battery facilities. The new funding will allow the startup to buy one of the U.K.’s largest batteries at 500 MW / 1 GWh located in the Midlands, England, currently in development and scheduled to be operational by 2027. This standalone battery would come with the capacity to export the equivalent electricity usage of 235,000 homes in a single day.

Octopus Energy Generation currently manages £4.4 billion of renewable energy assets across Europe.

Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation said: “This fund is helping to unlock huge amounts of new renewable energy across Europe, turbocharging the journey to greater energy security. The more new green power we can build, the faster we can reduce our dependence on gas imports and drive down energy bills for people in the UK and the rest of Europe.”

Jeremy Littman, founder and CEO of Exagen, added: “The deal with Octopus will support our mission to build smarter, flexible renewable generation projects across the grid, enabling communities access to cleaner, cheaper energy.”