Alternus Energy Group PLC harnesses the power of the sun to play a leading role

Green energy is finally going mainstream, providing predictable long-term returns, with wind and solar power part of the investment megatrend and in this Alternus Energy Group PLC (NOTC:ALT) is particularly strong in Europe. 

Alternus has grown in four years from being a small Romania-based operator of two solar parks with 6 MWp to becoming a pan-European independent power producer with 25 solar photovoltaic (PV) parks and a total installed capacity of 30.5 MWp in four countries.

Proactive sat down with Alternus Energy CEO Vincent Browne to discover how the energy company is set to quadruple its capacity with the acquisition of a 109 MWp portfolio of operational solar PV parks. Alternus plans to close deals on the majority of these parks by the end of the second quarter, and continue to contract additional projects in 2021.

Browne has a strong track record as the CEO and CFO of several public companies. He was the founder and CEO of telecommunications industry focused Prime Carrier, and former CEO of Axiologix Inc and the Flint Telecom Group. Strongly entrepreneurial, Browne has a background steeped in finance and operations, mergers and acquisitions, project finance and capital market transactions. 

Proactive: “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy,” Thomas Edison told his friend Henry Ford in 1931. It has taken many years, but is that finally starting to look like better investment advice?

Vincent Browne: Without question the world is undergoing a critical and irreversible transition from fossil-based fuels to green energy production. The interest in solar energy has soared over the past decade but we are still very much at the beginning of the “solar rush’’ as I see it, equivalent to when the oil rush commenced in the mid to late 1800s. The global demand for electricity continues to rise particularly when you consider the move to EV’s, and therefore, the more power produced from renewables the better.

This shift to renewables is not only necessary for our planet; it also presents unique opportunities to create successful business models to lock in value during the green energy transition. It is clear to me, and increasingly becoming accepted within the renewables industry, that those who own the generation capability will ultimately own the value. Alternus is already well-positioned to take advantage of this dynamic as a long-term independent power producer (IPP) and owner of solar PV ‘power stations’ that have decades of useful life and income streams. Unlike oil, however, the sun is a limitless and clean energy source, which we will and must utilize for the sake of future generations. We have made it our mission to make this energy more widely available.

As a driver in the global green energy transition, why is Alternus Energy currently laser-focused on Europe?

Europe is our home first of all. We began operations in the Romanian solar market, so it was a natural progression to move into the proven Italian and German solar markets, and then into the Netherlands. More importantly, Europe is the leader in driving the adoption of renewable energy. The EU has provided strong regulatory and environmental support across all countries with legislation such as the European Renewable Energy Directive and the recent European Green Deal committing to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and becoming the world’s first climate-neutral bloc, with a €1 trillion-euro commitment to drive this. This provides an historic opportunity in light of the pandemic to revitalize economies, drive job creation and growth in the renewables and solar industry and position the fight against climate change at the centre of it all.

Solar is now the most cost-effective of all renewables, with…