AIP investors shoot more than 3 billion in new major US solar project

25 January 2023

The asset manager AIP Management, which invests i.a. on behalf of PKA, PenSam, Storebrand, AkademikerPension and Lærnernes Pension, invest more than DKK 3 billion in a brand new large American solar energy project.

The project consists of two interconnected solar farms and battery storage facilities in Riverside County, California.

The plant will deliver around 1,500 GWh of green electricity per year, which corresponds to the consumption of 140,000 American households. It will reduce CO2 emissions by 600,000 tonnes per year.

The AIP circle acquires 60% of the facility, which is currently being built. It is expected to be completed and ready for use by the end of the year.

The seller is Clearway Energy Group, one of the US’s largest developers of green energy projects. Clearway itself retains the remaining 40% of the solar project.

The collaboration on the new solar parks and the associated battery systems is the first between AIP and Clearway. It can open up further investment collaborations between the parties and thus give the AIP circle access to more interesting green energy projects.

Increased focus on the American market

With the investment, AIP Investors adds another major green US energy project to its portfolio. AIP has already invested in four solar parks, two wind farms and two battery plants in California and Texas.

In the autumn of 2022, AIP opened an office in New York precisely to further increase the focus on the American market.

All of AIP’s projects in the US contribute to the important green transformation of the US energy infrastructure, and the new solar project also falls under the new Inflation Reduction Act package passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in August 2022. It aims to give further impetus to the development of green energy in the United States.

“The American market is attractive to us because there are a large number of green projects, technologically they are far advanced, and there are reasonable political framework conditions. We have built up a lot of experience with the USA, and this gives us good conditions for finding investments like this one, which both benefits the climate and our members’ pensions,” says Michael Nellemann Pedersen, investment director at PKA.

“We are once again taking an important step towards the fulfillment of our green objectives, and hopefully the new agreement from the Biden administration can speed up our investments in a very interesting American market for renewable energy even more,” says Claus Jørgensen, investment director at PenSam.

“The project is a good example of how, through partnerships, we can finance important contributions in the global fight to limit climate change. The combination of attractive investments and significant climate benefits shows how we create value beyond returns for our customers,” Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO Storebrand Asset Management.

“This investment is 100 percent in line with our strategy to deliver a good and stable return on a responsible basis. It is to the benefit of our members and at the same time contributes to phasing out the use of fossil fuels, which is necessary if we are to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, says Jens Munch Holst, CEO AkademikerPension