Investor guide
How to invest in renewable energy in the UK
Renewable energy investment covers everything from a listed fund to equity in a single solar farm. This guide sets out the routes available, how projects are funded at each stage, and the questions worth asking before you commit time or capital.
General information only. Nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation. Capital at risk.
Routes in
Four ways investors get exposure
They differ mainly in how much control you have, how long your capital is committed and how much diligence sits with you.
Listed funds and investment trusts
Publicly traded vehicles that hold portfolios of operating renewable assets. Easy to buy and sell, but you do not choose the individual projects and returns are diluted across a portfolio and its fees.
Unlisted funds and managed portfolios
Capital pooled by a manager and deployed across assets over several years. Access is usually limited to professional or high-net-worth investors and capital is committed for a fixed term.
Direct project investment
Equity or debt into a single project or a small portfolio. You see the project's own economics and diligence it yourself, which means more control and more work.
Platform investment and co-development
Backing a developer rather than a single asset, so your capital supports a pipeline. Higher risk at the early stages, and dependent on the team as much as on any one site.
Project stages
Risk and return change with the stage
The same site is a different investment at development, construction and operation. Knowing which stage you are funding is the first filter.
01
Early development
Site identified, land and grid position being worked up. Highest risk and highest uncertainty — many projects never reach consent.
02
Consented
Planning permission granted. Development risk falls sharply, and the project becomes a candidate for construction funding.
03
Ready to build
Grid offer accepted, key contracts in place. Capital here funds equipment, construction and connection works.
04
In construction
Delivery and contractor risk dominate. Diligence focuses on the build contract, programme and contingency.
05
Operational
The asset is generating. Cash flows are observable, so pricing depends on revenue contracts, performance history and refinancing terms.
Technologies
What UK projects usually look like
Most opportunities fall into a handful of technology categories, increasingly combined on one site.
- Solar PV
- Onshore wind
- Battery storage
- EV charging
- Hybrid / co-located
Solar and wind
Generation assets whose economics rest on yield, grid access and how their output is sold.
Battery storage
Revenue comes from moving energy and providing flexibility, so the trading and cycling strategy matters as much as the hardware.
EV charging
Closer to an infrastructure and retail business: location, utilisation and grid capacity drive the outcome.
Diligence
Six things to establish before anything else
If a project cannot answer these, the rest of the pack is difficult to price.
Grid connection
Is there an offer, has it been accepted, and what are the connection date and cost? Grid position is often the single biggest determinant of whether a project happens.
Land rights
Option, lease or freehold — and for how long. Check the term covers the asset's operating life and any decommissioning obligations.
Planning and consents
Status, conditions attached and anything still outstanding. Conditions can carry real cost.
Revenue structure
How the project earns: contracted offtake, merchant exposure, capacity or flexibility revenues, or a mix. Ask which parts are contracted and which are assumed.
Technology and performance
Yield assumptions, degradation, cycling profile for storage, and who stands behind the equipment warranties.
Counterparties
Who is developing, building and operating the asset, and what they have delivered before.
Risks
Be clear about what can go wrong
Energy projects fail for a small number of recurring reasons. None of them are unusual, and all of them are worth pricing.
The project never gets built
Consent refused, grid offer withdrawn or costs move. Development-stage capital carries this risk directly.
Revenue is lower than assumed
Merchant exposure, curtailment or weaker prices than the model assumed reduce returns even on a working asset.
Construction overruns
Delays and cost increases erode returns and can trigger funding gaps.
Illiquidity
Direct and unlisted positions can be difficult or impossible to exit before a sale or refinance.
Incomplete information
Missing documentation is a risk in itself. A brief that marks something as not yet established is more useful than one that guesses.
Total loss
Equity in a single project can be lost entirely. Take independent advice appropriate to your circumstances.
Using WattFund
Where a marketplace helps
WattFund does not advise or recommend. It makes what is known about a project visible, and gives you a structured way to ask for the rest.
See availability before detail
Each brief states which information exists, which is available on request and which has not been established.
Filter by mandate
Set technologies, stages, ticket size and geographies once, and see the opportunities that actually fit.
Request and diligence in one place
Information requests and Deal Room activity stay attached to the project rather than scattered across email.
Next step
See what is on the marketplace today
Browse teaser briefs without an account, or register as an investor to see information availability and request detail.
Energy investment puts capital at risk, including total loss. WattFund does not provide advice.