Bluestar Energy Capital is focusing on early-stage greenfield projects and plans to develop regional platforms in the US, Australia and Europe.
Declan Flanagan, the former CEO of Ørsted’s onshore unit, has launched a new renewable energy investment platform.
The new platform called Bluestar Energy Capital has raised an initial $100m, with a focus on greenfield development projects around the world. Bluestar also plans to take a long-term approach to the infrastructure needed to drive the energy transition to 2030 and beyond.
The US-headquartered company with a Dublin office plans to develop regional platforms in Australia, Europe and the US. These platforms will be either wholly-owned or controlled subsidiaries, that will engage in acquisition activity to drive growth.
Flanagan, who led Ørsted’s onshore business unit during its €571m acquisition of Brookfield Renewable Ireland, said successful project development “is a very local business”.
“A huge amount of capital is seeking a role in the energy transition, but a scarcity remains of the right kind of capital for new development platforms and new projects.” Flanagan said. “Our vision is to be one of the largest global investors of early-stage development capital.”
Bluestar has already established its first two regional development platforms, Nova Clean Energy in the US and Bluestar Energy Australia.
Nova is pursuing a greenfield project development plan, along with opportunistic mergers and acquisitions across wind, solar and storage. The Australian platform, meanwhile, has been initially focused on wind power, with plans for further additions of solar and storage.
Flanagan remains the controlling shareholder of Bluestar, with the initial investment bringing in new investors S2G Ventures and Great Bay Renewables.
As part of the transaction, S2G COO Aaron Rudberg and Great Bay CEO Frank Getman have joined Bluestar’s board of directors.
“Declan is a recognised leader in renewables and the global energy transition with an incredible track record of success,” Getman said. “We are excited to support him and his team in helping create the next great global renewables platform.”
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