Award-winning Northern Irish CleanTech company LUMENSTREAM has signed a framework agreement for financing £5m of a pipeline of future projects with investment and asset development company Aquila Capital, accelerating its broader expansion across the UK energy efficiency market. LUMENSTREAM and Aquila Capital share a common goal to contribute to the global energy transition.
LUMENSTREAM offers an innovative “Pay as you Save” platform it calls LED Lighting as a Service to some of the world’s largest energy-consuming businesses. This new bespoke funding deal will activate the delivery of its growing pipeline of commercial contracts.
The company’s clients already include global organisations such as SIEMENS and CIMC Group.
Following its launch in 2019, LUMENSTREAM upgrades commercial buildings to LED lighting with sensor controls for no upfront capital cost. This enables companies to save up to 85% on their lighting costs while dramatically reducing their carbon emissions and removing maintenance requirements for the contract duration.
A fraction of the energy saving is then paid to LUMENSTREAM as a monthly subscription fee for the initial five years, meaning its customers generate positive net cash flow immediately following project upgrade.
Aquila Capital is a sustainable investment management and asset development company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, that successfully launched the Aquila Energy Efficiency Trust PLC on the London Stock Exchange in June 2021.
LUMENSTREAM’s CEO, Alistair Brown, said that the new deal has long been a part of their strategic development.
“Aquila Capital are a leading infrastructure investor in the energy efficiency and renewable energy space. Their track record of investing in contemporary business models is second to none, and we view them as the ideal long-term partner for achieving LUMENSTREAM’s plans for growth.”
Alex Betts, a Senior Investment Manager at Aquila Capital said, “We are delighted to be supporting LUMENSTREAM’s projects. Improving the energy efficiency of lighting is a key area to reduce primary energy consumption, offering economic savings and CO2 reductions for commercial businesses in the UK. This agreement with LUMENSTREAM represents our first energy efficiency investment in the UK, a market we are keen to establish our presence in. We plan to deploy substantial capital in UK in line with our Energy Efficiency Trust’s investment strategy”.