Invicta New Park £300 million biomass fund launched

9th November 2009

Invicta Capital, a leading provider of investment opportunities for private clients
has launched a new £300 million fund dedicated to the construction and
operation of an identified portfolio of biomass combined heat and power (CHP)
plants in Scotland.

New Park worked with Invicta Capital to identify this portfolio of nine medium sized plants
located on existing industrial and business development parks or brown field sites in Scotland.

The plants have a total generating capacity of up to 90MW of electricity, enough to supply 140,000 homes. They will be powered by locally sourced sustainable and managed wood. New Park has now partnered with Invicta Capital to provide access to a number of the identified development sites, planning advice and building management services. New Park is part of the Scottish Enterprise Energy Technology Centre consortium, a group supporting innovation and commercialisation of renewable energy technologies. Together, New Park and Invicta have created a joint venture (Invicta New Park Limited) to run the nine plants.

New Park Director Neil Robertson commented "The development of these nine CHP plants with Invicta Capital is a natural extension of our desire to nurture new technology through Science and Technology Parks, working in partnership to bring sustainable jobs to rural communities such as Caithness."

During the operation of the plants, the fund will target a return of 8% post tax per annum to individual members. The investment is targeted to produce stable recurring cash flows as the fuel is not dependent on outside sources such as the weather, and contracts for both the fuel supply and the electricity produced are of a fixed priced nature removing a significant amount of volatility and inflation exposures.

The plants will use established pyrolysis and gasification technology with the wood being supplied from local sustainable and managed sources audited by the Smartwood Sustainable Forestry Division of the Rain Forest Alliance. A Power Purchase Agreement is currently being negotiated with a leading UK Utility for the purchase of electricity.