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					</table><p>Switzerland-based collective assets manager Energy Infrastructure Partners AG (<a href="https://www.energy-infrastructure-partners.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EIP</a>) announced the first closure of its global transition infrastructure fund by raising €1 billion (~$1.06 billion) commitments in collaboration with <a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/ch/en/unternehmen/institutional-clients/asset-management.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Credit Suisse Investment Foundation</a>.</p>
<p>The fund will participate in two main investments that EIP completed earlier this year. The first is a 30% stake acquisition in <a href="https://www.boralex.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boralex Inc</a>’s French renewables platform, which has an installed generation capacity of over 1 GW.</p>
<p>The second investment was EIP <a href="https://mercomindia.com/funding-and-ma-roundup-repsol-renewables-stake/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sharing</a> a 25% stake with <a href="https://www.credit-agricole.com/en/business-lines-and-brands/all-brands/credit-agricole-assurances" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Credit Agricole Assurances</a> in <a href="https://www.repsol.com/en/index.cshtml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Repsol</a>’s global clean energy unit— Repsol Renovables &#8212; which has over 1.6 GW of installed generation capacity worldwide.</p>
<p>Repsol Renovables <a href="https://mercomindia.com/spain-auctions-146-mw-of-biomass-and-31-mw-of-solar-in-october/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quoted</a> the lowest bid of €0.028 (~$0.033)/kWh for an onshore wind capacity of 49 MW in Spain’s auction for 520 MW of renewable projects in October.</p>
<p>These investments focus on expanding the operating asset base of Boralex and increasing its capacity three times. They will also support Repsol’s capacity to grow ten-fold by 2030 to cater to the European and American markets.</p>
<p>EIP said that throughout the first closure of its infrastructure fund, the company catered to the Swiss pension market in close collaboration with the Credit Suisse Foundation.</p>
<p>The company’s investment plans aim at specific system-critical energy infrastructure, including assets generating carbon-free energy, assets that transport energy such as power grids and transmission networks, and that store energy like grid-scale batteries and pumped storage power plants.</p>
<p>It will raise more funds for a second close and is working on expanding its reach outside Switzerland. The second close planned for the end of 2024 targets €4 billion (~$4.2 billion) in total commitments.</p>
<p>EIP’s head of global client solutions, Beat Goetz, said, “The strong demand from our longstanding Swiss client base— especially amid several choppy quarters in public markets and central banks’ movement away from a low-rate environment – is a strong vote of confidence in EIP and energy infrastructure. Considering the unique qualities of system-critical energy infrastructure, this space is seen more and more as its own asset class.”</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gourav Mishra</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gourav,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-04-06-at-6.37.25-PM-1-1.jpeg" width="89" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourav</a> is a staff reporter with Mercom India with over six years of experience in various roles with NewsX, The New Indian Express, IBTimes India, and U.S., Republic, and Analytics India Magazine. Gourav has a Master&#8217;s in journalism from Jain University, Bengaluru. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gourav-mishra/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gourav Mishra</a></div>
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EIP Closes First Round of Global Transition Fund with €1 Billion Commitments

<p><a href="https://www.solarstratos.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SolarStratos</a>, a Switzerland-based technology firm, announced that its founder Raphael Domjan completed the first-ever skydive from a solar-powered plane over Payerne, Switzerland.</p>
<p>According to the press statement, Raphael Domjan jumped from the two-seater plane after it soared to an altitude of 1,520 meters (5,000 feet). The parachutist reached a speed of over 150 kilometers/hour during his fall</p>
<p>“Our aim is to demonstrate the potential of solar energy and electric mobility can be utilized to carry out activities such as skydiving without greenhouse gas emissions,” said Raphael Domjan.</p>
<p>The company added that test pilot Miguel A. Iturmendi and Raphael Domjan took off the solar-powered plane from the Broyard airfield</p>
<p>SolarStratos said that pilots had taken two test flights before the skydive. The test flights were designed to settle technical details to enhance the altitude and duration of the flight. It added that SolarStratos became the second solar-powered plane in history to fly with passengers.</p>
<p>According to Solar Impulse Foundation, its long-range solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 became the first solar-powered plane to travel around the globe in July 2016. The plane was equipped with 17,428 solar cells and four power batteries to supply the power to an aircraft engine.</p>
<p>“The aircraft’s climbing performance is good, better than I imagined. And you have to be vigilant when landing as the plane needs a long landing distance,” said Miguel A. Iturmendi, Test Pilot at SolarStratos.</p>
<p>According to SolarStratos’ website, the solar-power plane is equipped with solar cells with an efficiency of around 22% to 24% as well as a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 20 kW. Calin Gologan, Chief Aircraft Designer and Chief Executive Officer of <a href="https://www.elektra-solar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elektra-Solar</a>, designed the aircraft.</p>
<p>Last year, Israel’s leading research university, <a href="https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ben-Gurion University</a>, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/nasa-solar-generator-international-space-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">designed</a> a miniaturized solar-power prototype that would help private commercial space missions. Designed by Professor Jeffrey Gordon and his U.S. colleagues, the BGU’s prototype consists of a compact, low-mass, molded-glass solar concentrator bonded to monolithic integration of transfer-printed micro-scale solar cells.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in India, on its 70<sup>th</sup> Republic Day celebrations last year, the Indian Air Force <a href="https://mercomindia.com/republic-day-indian-air-force-aircraft-biofuel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">led the way</a> towards a greener future by utilizing biofuel for its aircraft during the fly-past ceremony.</p>
<p>Image Credit: SolarStratos</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Harsh Shukla</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Harsh-Shukla-293x300-1-new.jpg" width="99" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Harsh Shukla</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/harsh-shukla/">More articles from Harsh Shukla.</a></p>
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Swiss Parachutist Completes World’s First Skydive from a Solar-Powered Plane

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