Global equity markets were on a tear at the time. Initial public offerings were running at record levels globally. And few sectors were as in vogue as green transition stocks, amid concerns about climate change and power prices.
Corre’s most advanced development is its Zuidwending project in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. The first large-scale compressed air energy storage facility to be constructed in Europe in almost 50 years will allow surplus energy to be converted into compressed air, stored in underground salt caverns. ZW1 will be capable of supplying up to 320MW of electricity to the grid for a period of up to 3½ days. Still, it’s not due to come on stream until around the end of 2026.
Much of the sell-off is not of Corre’s making. The S&P Global Clean Energy Index, spanning renewable energy companies to wind turbine and solar panel makers, has slid by almost 25 per cent over the past 12 months, amid a decline in energy prices and the weight of higher interest rates on this capital-intensive sector. By contrast, the FTSE All-World Index has advanced nearly 25 per cent over the same period.
The company said last September it aimed to have funding arrangements in place for its main projects by the end of 2023. It said before Christmas that co-investment talks were being finalised on the ZW1, Danish GHH1, and first German projects, and that the specific terms would be spelt out “in early 2024″. Investors are still waiting.