In September 2022, Pioneer made a significant investment commitment to 7Play Holdings SLU, an owner and operator of fibre broadband networks in Spain, with the strategic objective of enabling communities in smaller towns and rural areas to access digital services.

Led by a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record and supported by an experienced management team, Pioneer identified an opportunity in 7Play to consolidate the market long-tail in Spain with a buy-and-build platform strategy. With a series of acquisitions completed since the company’s inception in 2021, and an advanced pipeline with opportunity to deploy significant capital, 7Play provides Pioneer with an immediate, scalable platform to build a leading player in Spain’s rural fibre market.

In May 2022, Pioneer acquired Scanbio Marine Group AS, the leading Norwegian fish waste management company, with the objective of creating Europe’s leading sustainable partner to the aquaculture and bioenergy industries.

The Company collects and processes fish waste to produce high-value, sustainable end products for the animal feed, industrial production and bioenergy sectors. It is strongly aligned with Pioneer’s objectives of contributing to the green transition, to the circular economy, and to sustainable food production.

Through Pioneer’s strong biogas expertise, we identified that there was significant value to be unlocked through the management of biomass feedstocks. We targeted Norway as a priority market as it accounts for 50% of the global salmon market and is supported by strong underlying growth drivers.

In June 2021, Pioneer formed the platform company Altano Energy with the strategy to build a large scale, institutional renewable power portfolio in Spain.

The initial investment was used to acquire two ready-to-build solar PV projects in the Castilla La Mancha region, with generating capacity of 64MW. Altano has since completed significant additional acquisitions in July 2022, comprising an operational hydropower portfolio and late development stage wind and solar projects.  Altano now has a large and diversified portfolio of renewable assets and is one of the leading platforms in Spain.

In May 2021, Pioneer committed €60 million to Stream BioEnergy, an experienced developer and operator of anaerobic digestion plants, with the strategy of building the leading biogas company across the island of Ireland.

The initial investment is to acquired is Tully, a 3MW operational plant in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, which generates c. 21,600MWh of renewable energy through the processing of 100% chicken litter. Stream has a further pipeline of owned greenfield projects and selected operational targets.

Pioneer identified the island of Ireland as a priority market for biogas given the strong agricultural sector and expected biogas growth, driven by its national decarbonisation and waste targets.

Start Campus is a renewables platform in Portugal founded by Pioneer in 2020, in partnership with Davidson Kempner.

The first project of Start Campus is Sines 4.0©, comprising the development of a large-scale green data centre that will be powered by low cost and local renewable energy projects. Over time the project has the potential to be up to 450MW across 5 buildings.

Click here to read Start Campus’s 2022 Sustainability Report.

In March 2020, Pioneer entered into a partnership with Echelon Data Centres for an up to €1 billion investment programme across two sites in Ireland. Pioneer invested in Echelon in partnership with Davidson Kempner.

Established in 2017, Echelon has developed two sites totalling 184MW and has a further pipeline both in Ireland and in Europe. Pioneer’s investment will be focussed on the delivery of the energy infrastructure required for the data centres, including the provision of the grid infrastructure, renewable energy projects (providing power directly to the data centres) and backup power generation.

Pioneer identified Echelon as the ideal partner in Ireland due to the strength of its management team and its alignment with sustainability. Connectivity and data is critical to driving modern sustainable economies. Through this investment, Pioneer will facilitate the construction of two data centres which will be important to the national and local economy. It is anticipated they will require 900 jobs during the construction phase and 200 jobs once operational.

In 2019, Pioneer launched Sistema Rinnovabili (formerly SR Investimenti) to consolidate the Italian solar photovoltaic market by acquiring, optimising and operating small to medium-sized, ground-mounted solar photovoltaic plants. The Company also plans to target other emerging areas of the renewable market including large-scale grid parity projects and other advanced forms of renewable generation.

Sistema Rinnovabili is led by a team of sector veterans with a combined 30-year experience, having managed more than 1GW+ of solar capacity across Europe.

Sistema Rinnovabili is in the process of acquiring a 20MW portfolio and plans to grow its asset base to 100MW over the next few years.

In October 2018, Pioneer acquired UK energy platform Brockwell Energy Limited from Hargreaves Services plc.  Brockwell has a range of Energy-from-Waste and onshore wind projects in Scotland with a potential capital requirement of £800 million.

Pioneer acquired Brockwell in partnership with global investment firm Davidson Kempner. The Energy-From-Waste sector in the UK is a high priority focus for Pioneer.  With the reduction or elimination of landfill, uncertainty over the c3.5m tonnes of waste exported to Europe and pressures on recycling, there is a strong structural need for new, high efficiency plants.

Brockwell was identified as the ideal platform through which to pursue this strategy given its existing projects and experienced management team.  The Brockwell CEO, energy industry veteran Alex Lambie has been known to Pioneer for a decade.

In November 2017, Pioneer signed an agreement to acquire via privatisation the largest producer of biogas in Denmark, Nature Energy, which produces green gas that is injected directly to the European grid from farm and food waste. The company has 10 large scale operational plants (including the world’s largest waste-derived biomethane plant, Korskro) and is expanding 4 and building 3 new plants. The company currently produces c. 100 million m3 of green gas per annum and expects to double this once all expansions and new plants are operational.

Nature Energy is the European leader in the emerging green gas to grid sector, and sits at the intersection of green energy production, the circular economy in waste management, and sustainable farming. Green gas injected into the European gas grid can be stored, which is critical to driving more renewable energy because it balances intermittent power sources such as wind and solar. Green gas also provides a direct path to green transport and heating using existing distribution infrastructure and Nature Energy is the largest operator of CNG stations in Denmark.

Nature Energy was acquired by Pioneer in a consortium comprising of global investment firm Davidson Kempner and leading Danish pension fund Sampension.

Please click here to watch a video on how Nature Energy is contributing to the green transition.

In November 2013, Pioneer formed Primrose Solar, a platform company to build, own and operate a portfolio of 200-300 MW of solar projects in the UK.

Pioneer formed a partnership with global investment management firm York Capital Management to fund the construction of the first 184MW (Primrose I) and then, in 2015, formed a 50/50 JV with York Capital Management and Blackstone Alternative Asset Management to finance a further 69MW (Primrose II).

Primrose completed its construction programme in June 2016 with the energisation of the 49 MW Eveley Farm project, which brought the portfolio to a total of 253 MW of operational solar farms.

Primrose successfully sold the portfolio in three transactions in 2016: 95 MW to the Bluefield Solar Income Fund in January, 78 MW to Greencoat Solar I LP in November, and the final 80 MW to Equitix in December.

In December 2012, a consortium including Acciona, Pioneer and several Spanish family offices was awarded a 50-year, €1 billion concession to operate the wholesale B2B water network of Barcelona and surrounding areas. ATLL collects, treats, and distributes water to 116 local water companies serving 5m inhabitants and businesses in Europe’s 4th largest urban region.

In May 2011 Pioneer acquired Synextra SpA (formerly Masotina), a leading northern Italian waste recycling company.  Pioneer and existing management have bought out the company’s family owners and Pioneer has committed significant further funding for the acquisition of identified targets and capex to promote aggressive organic growth.  Founded in 1937, Synextra is a Milan-based provider of waste recycling services nationwide and operates two recycling facilities.

In August 2010 Pioneer invested in Peak Gen Power to build, own and operate distributed and flexible power plants in the UK. Between August 2010 and March 2016 Peak Gen grew from zero to 300 MW of plants contracted or operational, with plans to grow to 500 MW. In March 2016 Pioneer sold its interest in Peak Gen back to the family office that financed the investment.