OCTOPUS Energy Group launched a new renewables strategy yesterday, targeting early stage green energy projects to reduce Europe's reliance on gas imports The €220m (£185m) Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP) Fund has already made its first investment, backing renewables developer Exagen - taking a 24 per cent stake in the company.

Exagen is looking to rapidly grow the UK's energy storage capacity, including developing one of the UK's largest batteries - with 500MW of power at a rate of 1GWh.

This means the battery would have the capacity to export the equivalent electricity usage of 235,000 homes in a single day.

OEDP has also snapped up three solar farms with batteries on-site in the Midlands and North East of

England as part of the deal, which Exagen is currently developing.

The solar farms have a combined capacity of 400 MW, and will be built over the coming years.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper