Renewable energy infrastructure management

The fund invests in renewable energy infrastructure projects to improve the overall diversification. Up to 2 percent of the fund can be invested in unlisted infrastructure for renewable energy.

The management mandate was amended on 1 January 2020 to include this new investment area. The strategy supplements our existing unlisted real estate portfolio, and we draw on our long experience with unlisted investments. The mandate defines renewable energy infrastructure to cover production, transmission, distribution and storage of energy based on renewable energy sources.

Norges Bank’s Executive Board has established risk limits for geographies, project lifecycle and debt ratios. Within these mandate limits, we can invest directly in assets in developed markets in Europe and North America and in operational or construction phase assets.

The investments

In April 2021, we announced our first investment in renewable energy infrastructure. The fund signed an agreement to acquire a 50 percent interest in the Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm located in the Netherlands, with an installed capacity of 752 MW. The seller of the 50 percent interest was Ørsted. Ørsted will remain co-owner and operator of the project.

Photo credit: Ørsted/Sky Pictures

In January 2023, we signed an agreement to acquire a 49 percent interest in a portfolio of solar plants and onshore wind farms located in Spain. The portfolio comprises seven solar plant projects and five onshore wind projects, with an expected installed capacity of 1,265 MW. The seller of the 49 percent interest was Iberdrola. Iberdrola will remain co-owner and operator of the portfolio.

In March 2023, we announced our third investment. We agreed to acquire a 16.6 percent stake in He Dreiht, an offshore wind construction project in Germany, which will have an installed capacity of 960 MW. The acquisition will be made together with Allianz Capital Partners, on behalf of Allianz Insurance Companies, and AIP Management. Together, the consortium will acquire a 49.9 percent interest in the project. He Dreiht is expected to be operational by the end of 2025 and will then be the largest offshore wind project in Germany. The seller of the interest is the German utility EnBW, who has developed the project. EnBW will remain co-owner and operator of the project.