Solar firm Lodestone Energy completes $55 million capital raise

Solar energy company Lodestone has completed a $55 million "Series C" capital raise.

A Purpose Capital consortium has increased its investment in solar power generator Lodestone Energy from 3.5 per cent to 4.9 per cent after a successful $55 million “Series C” capital raise.

The follow-on investment takes the consortium’s total investment in Lodestone to $17.3m.

The Purpose Capital syndicate comprised Purpose Capital Impact Fund, Tauhara North No.2 Trust and Trust Horizon, as well as investors from the Purpose Capital Impact Fund.

Investors in the Series C round included Jarden Principal Investments, which will be managing an investment from Fisher Funds, Purpose Capital Impact Syndicate, ACC, K1W1 and Pathfinder.

Purpose Capital had looked at a dozen investment opportunities across residential, commercial and utility-scale solar when it considered the initial investment in 2021.

“While we acknowledge distributed rooftop solar has its place, you get approximately twice the amount of electricity generation for the same capital cost from doing solar at scale and in an optimised way,” Purpose Capital investment manager Nick Pacey said.

“Impact” investing involves making investments to help create beneficial social or environmental effects while generating financial gains.

“The impact implications of this are that much of the environmental and social benefits provided by solar photovoltaic systems can be achieved at half the cost via utility-scale when compared to residential-scale solar,” Pacey said.

Lodestone’s Kohirā solar farm in Kaitāia is already generating power, one year after construction started.

Purpose Capital said there had been progress on the other Lodestone sites.

Kohirā is New Zealand’s largest solar installation to date and was the first solar farm in New Zealand to bid into the electricity market.

The Kaitāia farm has more than 61,000 solar panels supported by more than 6500 piles across an area spanning 64ha.

Lodestone’s Phase 1 and 2 combined, consisting of 12 solar farms, is estimated to represent about 2 per cent of New Zealand’s total electricity market.

The Purpose Capital Impact Fund is New Zealand’s largest private impact investment fund, comprising investment from the private and philanthropic sectors.

Purpose Capital acts as a lead investor undertaking due diligence and investment negotiation to attract values-based impact co-investors.

Major fund investors include the Tindall Foundation, K1W1, WEL Energy Trust, BayTrust, TECT and a number of private individuals and family trusts.

Lodestone employees have had a long history in the electricity market, having developed generation projects in New Zealand, Canada, the US and Australia.

Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011.