Going Beyond the Green
We know that low-carbon infrastructure investing is good for the planet, but does it make financial sense for big, mainstream investors? While wind-and solar-power projects attract hundreds of billions of dollars in asset financing each year, the participation of institutional investors in the clean energy sector remains limited. According to the OECD (2017), less than 1% of total asset allocation by institutional investors is made to unlisted infrastructure, with renewable energy infrastructure constituting just a fraction of that. One of the key challenges to increasing capital flows from institutional investors to clean energy projects is a robust record of risk and financial return. In response, we undertook a comprehensive review of the historical financial performance of “Yieldcos” to help fill this gap.