Danish Renewable Energy Fund CIP Secures EUR 5.6 Billion

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) successfully secured EUR 5.6 billion in capital commitments for their fifth flagship fund, Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V), on June 30, 2023. This achievement sets them on course to achieve their goal of raising a fund size of EUR 12 billion (about 13 billion USD), possibly making CI V the world’s largest dedicated greenfield renewable energy fund.

The investment strategy is a continuation of the predecessor flagship funds CI I, CI II, CI III, and CI IV. The fund targets greenfield investments within large-scale renewable energy infrastructure, to diversify investments across technologies, such as contracted offshore wind, energy storage, onshore wind, and solar, in low-risk OECD countries in North America, Western Europe, and Asia Pacific.

CI V has had a great start for the biggest project lineup compared to any other CIP fund so far. In the first close, the Fund has taken ownership of over 40 renewable energy projects. They plan to invest around EUR 20 billion in these projects, which is more than 150 per cent of their target fund size.

As per the current portfolio, CI V will add an estimated 20 GW of new clean energy capacity to grids worldwide. Tht, the fund claims is enough to powermore than 10 million average households with renewable energy, corresponding to an annual CO2 avoidance of 15 million metric tons.

CIP manages 11 funds and has raised approximately EUR 25 billion for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from more than 150 international institutional investors till date. In June, CI V made its first important decision to invest in a big onshore wind project in the US. The project will have a capacity of over 400 MW and is expected to start construction soon.

Recently, in June 2023, CIP partnered with Wega to source, develop, and construct advanced bioenergy projects in Finland. Once fully established, the platform will seek to develop multiple projects with individual investment sizes of EUR 50m – 200m.

Expanding its renewable funding presence in Asia, CIP invested $350 million supporting the development and construction of GW-scale offshore wind projects in Korea last month. The company also acquired, through its Energy Transition Fund I, a 26.67 per cent stake in a development platform within CWP’s green hydrogen business. Earlier, the firm joined the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA) in developing 380 GW of wind capacity globally, helping countries transform their economies using offshore wind power.

In India, CIP has a deep investment in AMP Energy, besides an agreement with Viviid Renewables to develop 1.8 GW of renewable projects in India.

The firm’s India footprint might go up further depending on the progress with Offshore Wind plans in the country, besides other investments in Green Hydrogen development.