BlackRock Real Assets has announced the final close of its Renewable Income Europe fund as it reached €650m ($719m) in commitments from more than 25 institutional investors in Europe and Asia.

Since the fund’s first close in February 2016, it has invested in nine wind and solar projects across the UK and Ireland, representing a quarter of available client commitments.

Closing more than €150m over its €500m initial target size, the fund’s diversified portfolio of European wind and solar projects seems to have struck a chord with investors.

Appetite for real assets is set to continue to grow as institutional investors struggle to generate returns in a low growth and low rate environment, according to BlackRock’s 2016 Rebalancing Survey, which found that 60% of European investors intend to increase exposure to real assets.

“In an increasingly volatile market, real asset investments are ideally suited to institutions that have a long-time horizon, and are looking for income-producing assets with inflation-protection and low correlations,” said Patrick Liedtke, Head of BlackRock’s Financial Institutions Group for the EMEA region.

“Renewable power provides further portfolio diversification by providing varying local drivers of return, such as those derived by wind and solar resource.”