SK D&D has signed a co-investment memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with Glennmont Partners from Nuveen (“Glennmont”), one of the world’s leading fund managers investing exclusively in clean energy. SK D&D and Glennmont will target investment opportunities in solar PV projects in South Korea totalling approximately €150 million (200 billion Korean Won).
SK D&D, a leading South Korean renewable energy developer, will be responsible for sourcing, project management and operation of solar PV power projects, while Glennmont will play the role of raising debt financing and selling projects to end buyers.
The MOU will enable the two companies to accelerate the capital deployment of approximately €150 million (200 billion Korean Won) into solar PV projects. In addition, SK D&D will enter the electricity trading business full scale in earnest, and will benefit from the data generated by the assets to be acquired from the potential co-investments.
SK D&D is a leading company in every sector of the renewable energy market – solar PV, Onshore Wind and ESS. SK D&D is pursuing sustainable management practices and creating growth momentum, to benefit from expansion and integration of different green energy areas such as electricity trading, hydrogen fuel cell, and offshore wind power.
Joost Bergsma, CEO and Managing Partner of Glennmont Partners from Nuveen, said:
“We are delighted to sign this MOU with SK D&D that will see us enter the South Korean renewables market. This is a landmark agreement for Glennmont as we look to grow our operations in Asia and establish long-term relationships with key partners that we can work with on multiple projects. As we continue to expand into new geographies this will be a core part of our strategy to deliver value for investors and accelerate the energy transition.”
Harrison Kim, the head of the Energy Solution Business division of SK D&D, said:
“The electricity trading business requires having solar PV assets, and we started to discuss co-investment opportunities with one of the leading renewable energy funds, Glennmont Partners from Nuveen. SK D&D will establish a Virtual Power Plant Platform by acquiring a large number of power generation assets, forecasting yield, and utilizing Digital O&M solutions”.
To date, Glennmont has invested in more than 1.5GW of renewable energy projects and has AUM worth €2.2 billion (2.97 trillion Korean Won). In March 2021, Glennmont was acquired by Nuveen, the $1.3 trillion global asset manager, which will better enable Glennmont to drive its plans to raise further renewable funds, and to target new investments in all major technologies – offshore wind, onshore wind and solar PV – in their core European markets as well as across Asia Pacific and the US.