The electrification of uses (decarbonization of industry, development of electric fuels, production of synthetic fuels, etc.) will in fact lead to a sharp increase in demand for electricity (+4% expected in 2024, i.e. growth greater than that of GDP) and therefore in the need to finance new projects.
However, one of the obstacles to the development of renewable energies is their intermittency. This can even lead to negative prices (already 233 hours in France in the first half of the year). The situation is paradoxical, since electricity consumption will increase significantly over the next few years (+40% expected in Europe in the next ten years) and yet we are witnessing a temporary excess of energy. “Managing the intermittency of renewable energies involves steering demand and adding new solutions: electricity storage projects (through batteries) or new energies, such as hydrogen. These developments represent technological challenges and are based on a multitude of projects, developed around the world by mid-sized players. The energy transition is above all a decentralized transition,” analyses Philippe . Multinationals, for their part, focus on large-scale projects, such as offshore wind power for example, or smaller projects when they have become mature and can be bought out.
“Sienna IM’s development focus is to support innovative projects developed by mid-sized industrial players. We recently financed a company specializing in hybrid projects, in the fields of photovoltaics and battery storage ZE Energy, or the Italian developer Enfinity. Our ambition is to continue supporting these new players in the technologies of the future: biogas, such as pyrogasification or landfill gas recovery,” says Philippe.
It is essential to increase investments in favour of the energy transition, but the liquidity of institutions is weaker and the budgetary constraints of states are stronger. “The solution will therefore be to turn to individual savings and several recent regulatory initiatives, the Eltif 2.0 regulation, the green industry law, are moving in this direction,” notes Philippe. With this in mind, Sienna IM will give individual investors access to investment solutions, historically intended for institutions, through their life insurance contracts and retirement savings plans.
