Omnes Capital's investments: Ilmatar Energy

Sector 
Infrastructure
Entry Date 
06/2018
Business 
Renewable Energy

Ilmatar Energy

www.ilmatarwind.fi
Joint venture with a pioneer of Finnish wind unsubsidized market
The company is a joint venture created between Capenergie 3 and the Finnish developer Ilmatar Windpower. Ilmatar Energy objective is to develop, acquire and construct onshore wind projects in Finland. The Finnish market benefits from very attractive conditions to develop wind farms including excellent wind conditions, attractive cost of production and financing appetite. Moreover, Finland currently imports a significant share of its electricity and wishes to reinforce its energy independence by constructing additional capacities. Finland is one of the driving European countries to build and operate economically viable wind farms without public subsidies. Leveraging on Ilmatar’s technical expertise and experience, the joint venture aims to identify and acquire the most promising wind projects in Finland in order to build a portfolio of up to 1 GW without subsidies. Ilmatar Energy is held by Capenergie 3
Latest news
27/06/2018
OMNES CAPITAL AND ILMATAR WINDPOWER LAUNCH JOINT VENTURE FOR NORDIC WIND POWER, COMPLETE THE LARGEST ACQUISITION OF A FULLY DEVELOPED WIND PROJECT IN FINLAND TO DATE
Read the press release
5505
Read the business case
"Earlier in my career, I worked as much as I possibly could. Today, I realize that with a better balance between your professional and private life, you can actually achieve more."
Kalle
Pykälä,
Chairman and Co-Founder
of Ilmatar
> Read more
Ilmatar
MeetWhat drove you to found Ilmatar seven years ago?According to you, what makes a good leader?How do you see your collaboration with Omnes?
Meet

Omnes and Ilmatar recently launched a joint venture to build and operate wind power projects in the Nordic region.

We took this opportunity to meet Kalle Pykälä, Chairman and Co-Founder of Ilmatar.
What drove you to found Ilmatar seven years ago?

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I do have some entrepreneurial blood in my veins, but I actually didn’t realize how much until 2011 when I founded Ilmatar. I began my career in 2000 in the venture capital unit of ABB and soon realized that I didn’t enjoy working in a huge international company. I then spent five years in a small Finnish-based venture capital company before setting up my own venture fund in 2005. In 2010, Mikko Toivanen (also Co- Founder of Ilmatar) approached me about investing in the Finnish wind market. I had no experience in the energy sector but my financial background and Mikko Toivanen’s solid history in the electricity transmission and distribution fields were the perfect combination.

According to you, what makes a good leader?

Being a good leader is about giving responsibility to others and believing in your team. I was the CEO of Ilmatar from day 1 until 2016, when I stepped down to become Chairman and appointed a new in-house CEO. It proved that my “baby” had grown up and could be run by someone else. I also believe that a good leader needs to be an expert in some areas and to know the other aspects of the business to some degree. This is why I try to keep an expert understanding of the financing and growth issues, whilst keeping a good level of knowledge in other areas, such as business development, engineering, services and operational issues. I believe that finance is a crucial part of driving the development of the wind power industry.

How do you see your collaboration with Omnes?

This joint-venture represents a major step in our strategy. Our joint project to construct and operate up to 1,000 MW of wind power positions us as one of the leading players in the European and Finnish subsidy-free wind industries. We met Omnes in 2017 while looking for partners to develop subsidy-free growth, and we immediately appreciated their entrepreneurial spirit, their approach to business partners and their open mindset. We share the same values and we feel that we have enough independence to successfully execute our strategy.

ilmatar
> All Omnes Investments> All Renewable Energy Investments