Three Danish pension funds are investing a total of SEK3.3bn (€300m) in a Nordic energy infrastructure fund - an investment they say helps support energy security in the region.
AP Pension, Lægernes Pension & Bank and PenSam said they were investing SEK1.1bn each in SEB Nordic Energy, an infrastructure fund launched in 2023 which invests in small and medium-sized hydropower, wind power and battery storage plants throughout the Nordics.
According to the pension funds, the SEB fund - which SEB says has 15-year investment horizon and is targeting SEK15bn of equity within five years - upgrades and modernises existing energy facilities, increasing production significantly.
In their announcement, the Danish labour-market pension funds said: “The goal is both to deliver more green energy and to contribute to a more stable Nordic electricity grid.
“Because the fund focuses on upgrading already existing facilities, the climate footprint is significantly lower than with new construction, which makes the strategy even more sustainable,” they said.
Pernille Jessen, AP Pension’s CIO, said: “With the investment in SEB Nordic Energy, we are helping to support a stronger Nordic energy system that can deliver stable power in a time of increasing demand and greater geopolitical uncertainty.”
Peter Possing Andersen, CIO at Lægernes Pension & Bank, the Danish pension fund and bank for doctors, said that these days, a stable and independent energy supply was “a cornerstone of security policy”.
“Investments in a robust energy system with risk diversification and Nordic anchoring are not only financially attractive - they also strengthen society’s resilience in an uncertain time,” he said.
Making the case for their investment, the pension funds said electricity consumption in the Nordic region was expected to rise significantly in the next few years because of the electrification of industry, transport and new energy-intensive activities, while the growing amount of wind and solar energy put greater demands on storage, flexibility and balancing of the electricity grid.
They said the SEB fund’s investments played an important role in this regard.
“Hydropower acts as a stabilising supplement to variable renewable energy, while battery storage and modernised wind turbines increase flexibility and ensure better utilisation of the electricity grid,” the pension funds said.
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