August 27, 2020

North Channel Bank is a New Member of House of Energy

North Channel Bank is adding to the House of Energy center of competence with its expertise in financing renewable energy projects. “With our membership at the House of Energy we hope to contribute to the energy turnaround on the one hand by bringing in our expertise as a financing institution. On the other hand, it is our goal to support the development of new technologies as well as to better assess and accompany future-oriented projects with the expertise of other members,” says Markus Tappe, Head of Structured Finance at North Channel Bank. Within the financing of renewable energy projects (wind and solar parks, hydropower projects, biomass plants, and the associated storage and distribution concepts), the bank has focused on bridge financing, as there is currently insufficient bank support in the market, particularly in the medium and smaller project sector. ” We are pleased to welcome North Channel Bank’s membership at the House of Energy. We are sure that the bank will make a valuable contribution with its focus on medium-sized companies in the renewable energy sector“, says Prof. Dr. Peter Birkner, Managing Director of House of Energy.30

Financing of Renewable Energy Projects

“North Channel Bank does not focus on market standards in this business segment, but has special expertise in the field of alternative renewable energies, such as integrated energy and, in particular, the combination of the well-known processes wind, photovoltaics, and biomass,” explains Tappe. “Green hydrogen is playing an increasingly important role for us in this area”. For some time, the bank has been supporting a project in this field, in which energy from wind and biomass is converted into green hydrogen via an electrolyser. “Other project partners from the House of Energy network could contribute their know-how to the complex project structure,” Tappe added.

Impact Financing – Resource Optimization

Another issue currently being addressed by North Channel Bank is the high nitrate level in groundwater in Germany. Excessive fertilizer on the fields always releases more nitrogen into the soil than the plants need and can absorb for their growth. As nitrate dissolved in water, the nitrogen gets into the groundwater – with serious consequences. “We are involved in a project in which sewage sludge is converted into activated carbon and electricity using a new pyrolysis process. In this case, too, we assume that with the House of Energy we can rely on its expertise, which will support us in our technical understanding and enable us to realize the project together,” concludes Tappe.

North Channel Bank GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1924 as the privately owned bank Bankhaus Oswald Kruber located in Berlin. In 2009, a North American group of investors with expertise in the US Life Settlements sector acquired the bank and renamed it North Channel Bank. In the following years, the bank developed into one of the leading institutions in US Life Settlement financing. For many years, the bank has been working with the experienced and renowned US servicer NorthStar Life Services, LLC, a former affiliate, and offers not only financing but also investments in US Life Settlements. The affiliate NorthStar Life Settlements Trading, LLC, Irvine, California, renamed in 2020, handles the trading of policies in this business segment. In the Structured Finance division, the bank focuses, in particular, on financing in the renewable energy sector (focus: equity interim financing), capital goods, and growth financing.

House of Energy, based in Kassel, sees itself as a “think tank” supported by industry, science, universities, colleges, research institutes, and the Hessian government. It operates on a transdisciplinary basis and supports the energy turnaround in Hessen both conceptually and scientifically. As a center of competence, communication, coordination, and knowledge transfer platform, the House of Energy initiates and supports forward-looking projects with a technological focus. It is the first innovation cluster in Hessen to receive EU funding.