Platina Partners LLP, a private equity fund manager specialising in renewable energy infrastructure investments and special situation buyouts, has acquired 10MW of solar photovoltaic (“PV”) projects from the Degennaro Group, an Italian construction firm.

The PV projects become Platina’s first operational plant in Italy, supporting an investment strategy focused on assembly of a portfolio of operational renewable electricity generation projects across Europe.

Following this investment, Platina’s portfolio includes 162MW of renewable energy projects in operation, including 31MW operational solar PV projects, a further 82MW in construction and over 400MW of projects in development. Since Platina was established in 2002, it has invested in a combined construction and operational portfolio of over 900MW.

The 10 plants are located in the Puglia region of southern Italy and are 1MW each. The first plant was grid-connected in November and all plants are expected to be connected by the end of 2010. The Degennaro Group, a recognised family-owned construction group in the region, developed the projects, is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (“EPC”) contractor and will be the Operations and Maintenance (“O&M”) contractor for the plants.

The investment is the 12th from the European Renewable Energy Fund which Platina closed in March