Innogy Venture Capital, the corporate venturing unit of Germany-based utility RWE, has become the second-largest investor in a consortium providing €6m ($8m) to Belgium-based biogas power producer GreenWatt.
This is the first new investment by Innogy Venture Capital’s fund, IRTF I, since RWE Innogy and Bankhaus Lampe (through its Conetwork Erneuerbare Energien holding) signed their strategic cooperation agreement last November to commit to the fund.
Private equity firm Gimv led the round with a reported €3.6m investment for GreenWatt, which designs, operates and builds turnkey biogas plants for the decentralised generation of renewable heat and power from biodegradable high-water-content wastes without depending on the addition of slurry. Other investors in GreenWatt’s round were local utility Energie Brabant Walloon, local state investor SWIW and business angels.
GreenWatt was formed in 2004 out of research at the Catholique University of Louvain La Neuve in Belgium begun in the 1990s and received a patent for its High Yield Flushing Anaerobic Digestor in August.
Philippe Mengal, chief executive of GreenWatt, said: "After the successful proof of our concept and business model over the last two years, this substantial capital increase will allow us to accelerate the international expansion of GreenWatt. Our new investors will also provide valuable industrial connections to support our growth."
Peter Räke, executive director of Innogy Venture Capital, will sit on GreenWatt’s board and said: "We are the second largest investor after Gimv. Above the invested/committed amount we don’t support with money but of course we will help the company with market access, door opening, market intelligence and technical expertise including RWE Innogy experts."
For RWE, the deal helps resolve pressure on the electric grid by distributing production to its end-customers. Last week, RWE said it would to invest €4bn in renewable energy and the grid to transmit power over the next two years, adding to the €4.4bn it has spent since 2007. RWE warned that grid constraints were imperilling its renewable energy investments in Germany.