Norway's oil & gas-fuelled wealth fund 'plans $11bn wind and solar spree'

The $1trn Norwegian sovereign wealth fund that’s the world’s largest plans to invest about NKr100bn ($10.8bn) in wind and solar projects under new freedoms it was given last year, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), based on the nation’s vast oil & gas wealth, will make the investments in unlisted renewable energy projects in the three years to 2022, said Reuters quoting its outgoing CEO Yngve Slyngstad.

“We will look at North America and Europe. It could happen first in either region,” the financial newswire quoted him saying. “We are looking at wind parks and solar farms.”

The GPFG was in 2019 given the green light by the Norwegian government to invest in unlisted infrastructure projects, in a widening of its previous remit that came after years of pressure from environmental campaigners.

The additional projects will be subject to the same requirements as the fund’s other investments, said the country’s finance ministry at the time, as it also doubled to NKr120bn ($14bn) the upper limit on investments under its environment-related mandates.

Source: rechargenews.com