Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, Oslo, committed 2 billion Norwegian kroner ($199 million) to Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners III – Net Zero Power Fund, as part of an annual goal to invest in climate-friendly investments, spokesman Glenn Slydal Johansen said in an email.
The fund invests in solar power with battery systems and in green data centers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. U.S. companies Primergy Solar and Rowan Digital Infrastructure will represent at least two-thirds of the fund's investments, according to KLP's website. In the first phase, KLP bought into an existing portfolio, and future money will go to new capacity.
As of March 31, KLP had 710.5 billion Norwegian kroner in assets, while the parent company KLP Group, including five subsidiaries, had total assets of 902.9 billion kroner, according to its latest report.
The annual goal of investing 6 billion kroner each year in climate-related investments was set in 2017, and now accounts for 8% of KLP Group's total investments. At the end of the second quarter, those investments reached 56.7 billion kroner, according to a posting on the KLP website.
For KLP, climate-friendly investments include solar power, battery systems and storage, development of solar cells, wind power, hydropower, offshore wind, district heating, hydrogen, ammonia, biogas and forests.
The Quinbrook Net Zero Power Fund allocation will contribute to the annual goal "and be part of the transition to a net zero society," said Harald Koch-Hagen, director of risk management and allocation at KLP, in an article on the KLP website.
Heidi Finskas, director of corporate social responsibility at KLP, said in the article that "energy production must be restructured in a renewable direction. ... The energy situation we are seeing in the world now is yet another signal of how important it is to produce more clean energy."
