SEP helping fund £3.3m hydro power investment

VENTURE capital firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) is helping to pour £3.3 million into a hydro-electric developer to trigger a flood of new projects.

Perth-based Green Highland Renewables, run by managing director Ian Cartwright, will use the cash to increase the number of landowners it works with.

The company specialises in small to medium-sized schemes that can generate from 100kW to 2MW of electricity, enough to power between 80 and 1,600 homes.

SEP is investing in the company alongside the Scottish Investment Bank. Neither party would disclose the size of the stakes they are buying.

The venture capital firm’s investment is being made through its £95m Environmental Energies Fund (EEF), which in January took over Perth-based utility SSE’s stakes in nine green technology companies, including wave energy device developer Aquamarine Power.

SEP runs the EEF on behalf of SSE and fellow investors F&C, Hermes, Lexington Partners and Swiss outfit Partners Group.

Tony Robison, who runs the EEF, said: “Ian and the rest of the team have an excellent track record, a growing pipeline of site opportunities and have built a trusted brand.”

News of the deal comes just weeks after Scotland on Sunday revealed Edinburgh financiers Henry Chaplin and Mark Tyndall are launching a £15m hydro-electric power fund.