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Borssele wind farm
Photo: Orsted
The Norwegian pension fund invests in renewable energy infrastructure for the first time.
For 1.375 billion euros, the sovereign wealth fund is acquiring half of it in the Dutch offshore wind farm Borssele 1 & 2. This was announced by the Norwegian central bank, which manages the fund.
The shares will be sold by the Danish energy company Ørsted, which will keep the other half and will continue to operate the park.
According to both sides, an agreement has already been signed and the sale will be completed in the second or third quarter.
Ørsted is considered the world leader in offshore wind energy.
According to Ørsted, the wind farm around 23 kilometers off the North Sea coast of the Netherlands with its 94 turbines produces enough energy to supply almost one million Dutch households with green electricity every year.
The National Pension Fund Abroad, as the Norwegian fund is officially called, acts as insurance for future generations when it is no longer possible to drill for oil.
It is fed with the income from Norwegian oil and gas exploration, administered by the central bank on behalf of the Treasury and invests in thousands of companies worldwide, including large corporations such as Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.
The market value of the fund, which is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, is currently around 11.1 trillion Norwegian kroner, the equivalent of around 1.1 trillion euros.
The fund is in good company with its new investment strategy.
As part of the so-called divestment movement, thousands of companies and institutions around the world have already withdrawn trillions of dollars from the oil, gas and coal sectors and instead invested some in green technologies.
Investors are worried about high write-downs on their fossil investments due to the efforts of many countries to reduce CO2 emissions.
ssu / dpa