Dutch pension giant joins forces with co-operatives to bet on North Sea wind
Europe’s largest pension fund, the Dutch public sector fund ABP plans to open its North Sea energy development Noordzeker to more than 700 energy cooperatives
The collaboration will see Noordzeker and Nordzee Stroom join forces to respond to a tender for a wind project in Ijlmuiden Ver.
The tender was opened by the Dutch government in February and includes two sites each of which can house approximately 2 GW of installed offshore wind capacity. The government will accept proposals until the end of next week. ABP did not disclose how much it intends to pay for the development but said it intends to offer a price which is "market conform and in the interest of its members."
A third site will be put to tender next year, the Dutch government said.
“As a pension fund with more than 3 million members, we believe in the power of acting collectively” said Harmen van Wijnen, chair of the board of trustees. “We have the ambition to develop a large-scale wind park in the Northsea, this will not only help build better pension but also deliver cleaner and more affordable energy to our members here in the Netherlands.
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“By opening the project up to participation by energy cooperatives, we are ensuring that Noordzeker not only benefits scheme members, but everyone in the Netherlands who wishes to participate” he added.
Noordzeker is a renewable energy initiative focused on large-scale wind energy generation in the North Sea. It was launched a year and a half ago by ABP, its investment management company APG and SSE Renewables, a subsidiary of the Irish energy company SSE.
Noordzee Stroom is a collaboration between the renewable energy cooperatives Windunie [Wind Union] and Energy Samen [Energy Together] who combined host more than 700 smaller renewable energy cooperatives.
“This collaboration represents a crucial step on the way to developing a Dutch wind park with local participation with both respective parties working making wind energy more affordable for the Netherlands” ABP said in response.
The bid to invest in wind energy comes weeks after ABP announced that it intends to allocate some €10bn of its €474bn investment portfolio to climate solutions, it has also committed a further €30bn to impact investments.
