German renewables and energy retail giant Innogy SE stepped up its investment in "disruptive" clean technology start-ups last year, backing 61 companies through its innovation arm and growing the value of its portfolio by more than 50 per cent, it revealed today.

Set up in 2014 with a focus on investing in companies involved in decarbonisation, decentralisation, digitisation or democratisation of energy, the firm's Innovation Hub has now funded almost 90 start-ups, creating a portfolio worth €162m in total, it said.

Thomas Birr, CEO of Innogy Innovation Hub, said its combination of venture capital with accelerator and angel investing gave it "unparalleled access to the most promising start-ups" and "unique value and innovation" opportunities.

"In a short space of time, we've built a team, culture and organisation that drives exponential growth rather than incremental change," he said. "We're looking forward to developing this approach as we continue to invest in the companies that will help build the future of energy."

But the announcement came as Innogy last week lamented a "turbulent year" across its wider global energy business, which saw its year-on-year earnings fall by seven per cent to €2.6bn due to lower than expected returns from renewables, challenges in its electricity and gas retail business, and the collapse of the planned merger of its UK business with npower.

The firm said "unusually low levels of wind across large areas of Europe" acted as a drag on its financial results, with earnings from renewables alone down to €299m in 2018 from €355m the previous year.

However, it said it expected an increase in earnings from its renewables business this coming year due to expanding capacity, based on more "normalised" weather conditions.

Innogy, which currently operates 4GW of renewables capacity in total, said it had laid the foundations for future clean energy growth, with 7.1GW of solar and wind projects in the pipeline.

It also hailed its success in several Germany wind auctions in 2018, as well as its investment in new solar projects in Australia.

Across its e-mobility business it highlighted "strong international growth" after acquisitions of BTC Power - a DC charging technology firm - and electric vehicle (EV) software company Recargo.

Innogy said it had now installed 25,500 EV charging points globally, including 23,500 in Europe and 1,900 in the US, and last year established innogy eMobility Solutions as a separate company.

In the UK, meanwhile, the firm is in talks with community groups in North Wales with a view to potentially offering locals free EV charging using power from its 100MW wind farm at Cloacaenog Forest, according to The Telegraph.

The announcement caps an eventful year for the Germany-based firm, after former parent company RWE announced plans to sell innogy to E.ON as part of a complex assets swap that will also see RWE take a 16.7 per cent stake in E.ON.

At the end of last year, meanwhile, plans to merge innogy's UK retail business - npower -with SSE's retail subsidiary were abandoned due to "very challenging market conditions".

Bernhard Günther, chief financial officer of innogy SE, said that while it was "not a good year for wind power", the firm had "laid the foundations for further growth" in renewables.

"We unfortunately did not achieve our goal of combining our UK retail business with that of SSE, and that will have a negative impact on our result in 2019 as well," he added. "All in all, we face challenges in our European electricity and gas retail business. But by establishing new collaborative arrangements and expanding our online business, we were able to secure our competitive position."