SEB Joins Investment in Copenhagen Energy Islands for Offshore Renewable Energy Expansion

SEB Joins Investment in Copenhagen Energy Islands for Offshore Renewable Energy Expansion

(IN BRIEF) SEB has announced its investment in Copenhagen Energy Islands, a new development company by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), dedicated to creating energy islands globally. These large-scale offshore energy hubs are poised to play a crucial role in the global push to expand renewables and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Copenhagen Energy Islands, predominantly owned by CIP and institutional investors, is working on a portfolio of approximately 10 energy island projects across the North Sea, Baltic Sea, and South-East Asia. The initiative aims to reduce power transmission costs, facilitate offshore green hydrogen production, and integrate offshore wind on an unprecedented scale to advance the renewable energy transition. CIP, a leading renewable energy fund manager, has raised around 26 billion euros for energy and infrastructure investments from over 150 international institutional investors.

(PRESS RELEASE) STOCKHOLM, 20-Jan-2024— /EuropaWire/ — SEB is making an investment in Copenhagen Energy Islands, a new development company launched by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) that is dedicated to developing energy islands globally. Such large-scale offshore energy hubs could be instrumental in the global strive to scale up renewables and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Copenhagen Energy Islands is an independent company majority-owned by CIP and a group of institutional investors. The company is currently developing a portfolio of around 10 energy island projects around the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and in South-East Asia. The founding investor group includes major Nordic, European, and North American investors with a track record of investments in renewable energy infrastructure, such as SEB, PensionDenmark, PFA and Andel.

“The energy transition and the scale-up of investments in offshore wind and other renewable energy sources is crucial if the world is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. As a bank, we have an important role to support the transition to a low-carbon society and we are very happy to now be able to invest in this important project,” says Kristian Skovmand, Country Manager, SEB Denmark.

Energy islands are large-scale offshore energy hubs, which have the potential to enable the massive scaling required for the next generation of offshore wind deployment globally. Key value drivers include a substantial reduction in power transmission costs, large-scale offshore green hydrogen production and related synergies between power and hydrogen production. Energy islands combine existing, proven technologies in a new and innovative way and at a significantly larger scale, allowing for a cost-efficient build-out and integration of offshore wind.

“Our vision is to provide concrete solutions to the global challenge of scaling up renewables. If we want to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, we will need to scale up the deployment of offshore wind and other renewables to an unprecedented level. Today, the challenge for offshore wind is less about building the incremental offshore wind farm, but more how to integrate large-scale offshore wind energy into the global energy systems. We see energy islands as a key tool in solving this challenge and realizing the ambitious offshore wind targets across the globe,” said Jakob Baruël Poulsen, Managing Partner and founder of CIP.

CIP is the world’s largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind. The funds managed by CIP focus on investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity, storage, advanced bioenergy, and Power-to-X. CIP manages 12 funds and has to date raised approximately 26 billion euros for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from more than 150 international institutional investors.

For more information, visit cip.com.

Media Contact:

Niklas Magnusson
Head of Media Relations & External Communication
+46 70 763 8243
niklas.x.magnusson@seb.se

SOURCE: Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB