German asset manager CEE Group has announced the creation of a new €500 million repowering fund, merging the renewable energy assets of three existing portfolios. The CEE RF9 fund will focus on repowering a portfolio of renewable energy assets, with an initial installed capacity of approximately 457MW, which is expected to increase to 1.1GW over the course of the repowering process.
The fund, which will be enabled by €1 billion in debt financing, targets at least 29 operational assets spread across Germany and France. These assets, including 16 onshore wind farms and 23 solar parks, are on average 13 years old and still benefit from an average of seven years of state feed-in tariffs. The repowering process is expected to be completed between 2027 and 2030.
Repowering, which involves replacing older systems with more efficient technologies, will allow these assets to continue contributing to Germany's and Europe's renewable energy capacity for at least another 20 years. “With this project, we are marking the next milestone in our company's development and are fully embracing the repowering megatrend,” said Detlef Schreiber, CEO of CEE Group.
In addition to the benefits of upgrading the plants, CEE Group aims to ensure that parts of the existing infrastructure, including grid connections, will be reused, while old wind turbines and solar systems will be sold or recycled. “Premature repowering can also be very attractive here – as a win-win for the energy transition and for investors interested in long-term returns,” Schreiber added.
The new fund consolidates assets from CEE Group's previous portfolios RF1, RF2, and RF3, with a clear focus on long-term investments. Institutional investors have shown strong interest, with 85% of legacy investors committing to the new fund for an additional 20 years.
The term of the RF9 fund is set at 20 years, with a target internal rate of return (IRR) of 10% under base case conditions.
