​Industriens, Better Energy invest €800m building north Europe solar parks

Denmark’s Industriens Pension and local renewable energy infrastructure firm Better Energy are expanding their joint venture to invest DKK6bn (€806m) building around 15 new solar parks in Denmark, Sweden and Poland by the end of 2024.

The two parties first linked up at the end of 2020, kicking their 50/50 partnership off by ploughing up to DKK4bn in plans to establish solar parks in Denmark and Poland.

The partners, which already jointly own 21 solar parks, said the new facilities would supply green power on a large scale to consumers and companies in Northern Europe.

Peter Lindegaard, Industriens Pension’s CIO, said: “The new parks will be another step on the way to ensuring a more independent energy supply, and they have a very good climate effect per krone invested.

“At the same time, we expect the solar parks to provide reasonable, long-term returns, so it is an investment that we are excited about for several reasons,” he said.

Part of the new investment is in the form of equity from both parties, and part is long-term investment financing, the Danish pension fund said.

The agreement includes a “three-digit million sum” in kroner being set aside for investments in power storage, Industriens Pension said, adding that storage was becoming increasingly important as the share of renewable energy grew in the electricity grid and energy system.

“The investment in storage is basically about taking broad responsibility for the expansion of renewable energy,” said Lindegaard.

“In the green energy transition, few things are more important than the electricity system of the future – a system we have every chance of succeeding with if we act wisely now,” he said.

The solar parks established as a result of the new agreement will have a capacity of over 1 GW, the Danish pension fund said, bringing the capacity of the two investments by the joint venture so far to around 2GW.

Similar to the terms of the first investment, the two partners are each to own 50% of the completed solar parks, with Better Energy responsible for the development, management and operation of the parks as well as the sale of energy.

In December, Denmark’s largest pension fund ATP announced it had taken a 15% stake in Better Energy.

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