SolarWind III: movement in the right direction

Stephen is the Head of Investor Relations at Taaleri Energia, which manages SolarWind III, a fund investing in utility-scale onshore wind, solar, and battery storage projects. Founded in 2011 with a focus on Finnish wind farms, the company now invests in projects in 12 European countries.

An Article 9 fund, SolarWind III embeds sustainability into its development process – from land use and biodiversity to community engagement and turbine shutdowns for protected species. Backed by the EIF, it’s Taaleri Energia’s sixth renewable energy fund and closed in January 2026 with €630 million in commitments.

“It all starts with a knock on a landowner’s door,” Stephen says with a smile. “Local engagement, permitting, environmental studies, and engineering are all key parts of our development process.”

Scale, in other words, begins locally. SolarWind III plays an important role in Europe’s energy transition by moving conversations into construction. And Stephen believes the opportunity is straightforward. "The biggest, and simplest, solution [to climate change, energy costs and energy security] is staring us in the face. Onshore wind and solar are cheap, and most European countries have the land needed to build them."

Still, challenges remain: “One of the obvious bottlenecks is the lengthy permitting process,” he explains. “Typically, getting a wind farm up and running takes six to ten years.” A major part of that process involves securing access to the electrical grid – an interconnected system of power plants, substations, and transmission lines. “Without grid access, you don’t have a project. And even once you’re connected, curtailment may become an issue.”

Curtailment occurs when grid operators intentionally reduce output from generators – usually wind or solar – because supply temporarily exceeds demand. “For example, on a very windy day, there may simply be too much electricity. The grid operator may tell you to shut your turbines down for six hours.”

Energy storage technologies offer a solution. “When there’s excess wind power, storage systems can capture that electricity for later use. But many countries still lack this infrastructure,” Stephen notes.

Despite these hurdles, he remains optimistic about Europe’s clean energy future. “The AI boom is driving companies to build data centres that require vast amounts of electricity. Many of them want new, dedicated renewable capacity – so they need new wind farms, new solar farms, or hybrids of the two.”

He pauses, reflects, then continues with the same upbeat tone. “And even without AI, electricity demand in Europe is rising. The cost of wind, solar, and battery storage technologies has fallen dramatically over the last 10–15 years, and these technologies keep improving. Longer duration storage, better efficiency – it’s all moving in the right direction.”