Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has taken a majority stake in Elgin Energy, a London solar developer with a 15 GW pipeline. The number attached to the deal is $314 million. Divided across the pipeline, that is about $21,000 per MW, which would make it one of the cheapest platform deals in British solar. It is not a purchase price at all.
Key takeaways
- Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners announced on 3 April 2024 that it had acquired a majority stake in Elgin Energy through its fifth flagship fund, CI V, with CIP and Elgin's retained management team investing $314 million into the company.
- Elgin Energy has a 15 GW late-stage solar and storage pipeline across the UK, Ireland and Australia, including about 800 MW of fully permitted assets in the UK and 150 MW in Ireland.
- The CIP investment is intended to turn Elgin Energy from a solar developer into a fully integrated solar and storage company and an independent power producer.
- Elgin Energy was founded in 2009, reports a 98 percent success rate in gaining planning permission, has delivered nearly 2 GW of ready-to-build solar and storage projects and has secured more than 30 projects in government-backed auctions in the UK and Ireland.
- FIH Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser and Orrick as legal adviser to CIP on the Elgin Energy investment, with DLA Piper advising Elgin Energy.
What does the $314 million pay for?
Growth, rather than an exit. CIP and Elgin's management, who stay on, will invest $314 million into the company. That money goes into Elgin to expand its pipeline and change what kind of business it is. It is not a payment to departing shareholders for the value they have built.
That distinction matters for every per MW comparison. Leap stores the deal at $0.02 million per MW, which divides $314 million by the full 15 GW. A purchase price divided by capacity measures what a buyer thinks the assets are worth. An investment divided by capacity measures how much funding each megawatt receives. The two can look identical in a table and mean opposite things.
A narrower denominator gives a different picture. Elgin has about 800 MW of fully permitted UK projects and 150 MW in Ireland. Across those 950 MW the $314 million comes to about $0.33 million per MW. Neither figure is a valuation. They bracket the scale of the commitment against the pipeline at its widest and at its most advanced.
How does CIP plan to change Elgin's business?
By keeping the projects instead of selling them. Elgin has worked as a developer, taking solar projects from site origination through planning to energisation. It has delivered nearly 2 GW of ready-to-build solar and storage projects and secured more than 30 projects in government-backed auctions in the UK and Ireland.
CIP wants to move Elgin further along the chain. The plan is to develop it into a fully integrated solar and storage company and an independent power producer, an IPP, which owns and operates its plants and sells their electricity rather than selling the projects. CIP brings an industrial approach to procurement and construction, which together with Elgin's development portfolio is meant to make that shift possible.
Elgin already has some contracted revenue to build on. The Gorse Lane solar project sells power to Vodafone UK and Centrica under a 10-year PPA. The Milltown Airfield, Speyslaw and Cullerlie solar plants hold Contracts for Difference at a strike price of $57.76 per MWh. A Contract for Difference pays the generator the gap between the market price and an agreed strike price, which fixes its revenue. The Rose and Crown Bann Road plant secured a 1.4 ROC accreditation for 20 years under the Renewables Obligation and its Northern Ireland equivalent.
The geography is broad. Elgin operates mainly in the UK, Ireland and Australia, where it has four early-stage battery projects totalling 480 MW, and is considering Germany. The investment is meant to grow the pipeline in existing and new markets. Elgin has since used that backing to buy as well as develop, as with its purchase of the Blackhall solar project in County Meath.
Enerdatics' data shows 16 UK solar corporate transactions announced between January 2023 and June 2025, seven of them with a disclosed value. Three of the priced deals are for development platforms. RWE's purchase of JBM Solar and its 6.1 GW pipeline for $428.42 million in 2023 works out at about $0.07 million per MW. Federated Hermes' 60 percent of Rivington Energy for $24.3 million in 2025 implies about $0.026 million per MW once grossed up to 100 percent. Elgin, at about $0.02 million per MW, looks the cheapest of the three, but it is the only one where the figure is money going into the company rather than to a seller.
What does the deal signal for UK solar platforms?
It shows that large UK solar pipelines are changing hands at platform level, and that most of those deals carry no price. Two other UK solar developers with pipelines of around 15 GW also took in new owners in the period: Qair bought a majority of Green Switch Capital in August 2024, and Macquarie took full ownership of Island Green Power's UK operations in May 2025. Neither disclosed a value.
It also shows what infrastructure funds want from developers. CIP already brings partners into UK projects it controls, as with its sale of minority stakes in the Devilla battery project. Buying a developer and turning it into an IPP gives CIP a supply of projects it controls from the start.
The test is conversion. A 15 GW pipeline is mostly early. The 950 MW of permitted projects in the UK and Ireland will show first whether CIP's capital and construction approach can turn Elgin's planning record into operating capacity.
Frequently asked questions
How much did CIP invest in Elgin Energy? Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, together with Elgin's retained management team, will invest $314 million into Elgin Energy, with CIP taking a majority stake through its CI V fund, announced on 3 April 2024.
How large is Elgin Energy's pipeline? Elgin Energy has a 15 GW late-stage solar and storage pipeline across the UK, Ireland and Australia, including about 800 MW of fully permitted projects in the UK and 150 MW in Ireland.
What does CIP plan for Elgin Energy? CIP plans to develop Elgin Energy into a fully integrated solar and storage company and an independent power producer, growing its pipeline in existing and new markets.
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