Octopus Energy Generation has taken full ownership of Exagen Group, a significant player in the UK solar and energy storage sector.
The 100% equity buyout, which was carried out on behalf of the Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP) fund, managed by Octopus, follows an August 2022 investment by Octopus in exchange for a 24% stake in the business.
Octopus Energy Generation will now have full ownership of Exagen’s development pipeline, which consists of over 2.4GW of solar energy and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects across England. These projects will add to Octopus Energy Generation’s gargantuan portfolio, worth around £6.7 billion globally and with a 3.7GW combined generation capacity across various generation types.
Jeremy Littman, CEO and founder of Exagen Group, commented: “I founded Exagen to deliver and manage a robust pipeline of UK renewable energy projects with the mission of fighting climate change. Having built a talented team to drive this vision forward at pace, I am proud to pass the baton to Octopus, who will continue to deliver projects and expand the platform to new heights.”
“The initial investment from Octopus provided the foundation for Exagen’s success. With this buyout, Octopus is now positioned to further advance our mission of meeting the UK’s renewable energy targets by 2035.”
Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team, added: “We first invested in Exagen two years ago and we’ve been impressed by their strong pipeline of solar and storage projects in development that will help boost British energy security. By increasing our investment, we’re going to turbocharge the build-out of new green energy and rapidly grow the UK’s energy storage capacity.”
Octopus’ expanding portfolio
Since its launch in 2015, Octopus Energy and its various offshoots have become a dominant force in the UK energy landscape. In April of this year, Octopus Energy was officially named as the UK’s largest electricity supplier, with a 22% market share of UK households. The firm’s electric vehicle (EV) charging branch, Octopus Electroverse, has now become Europe’s largest EV charging platform, with over 850,000 connected chargers across Europe.
Meanwhile, Octopus has been increasing its presence in the BESS sector too, having recently signed a two-year fixed-price tolling agreement with Gresham House Energy Storage Fund. The wider energy industry has seen the impact of this landmark deal, with Gresham House telling our sister publication Energy Storage News that the agreement “woke up the wider market to the possibility of this being an option […] it’s not only for large suppliers”
The company is also working to improve the wider UK electricity market, having recently published a report calling for an open-source connection process for new renewable energy developments in order to ease connection gridlock.
A version of this article was originally published on our sister site Solar Power Portal.
