DUBAI听–听Danish investment firm听颁辞辫别苍丑补驳别苍听Infrastructure Partners is looking to raise $3 billion for a new听蹿耻苍诲听focused on building renewable energy projects from scratch in听别尘别谤驳颈苍驳听and middle-income countries, the heads of the听蹿耻苍诲听told Reuters.
The 14-year Growth听惭补谤办别迟s听贵耻苍诲听II it has just launched will target wind and solar power and niche investments such as battery storage and projects that turn electricity into carbon-neutral synthetic fuels, so-called ‘power-to-X’.
According to data firm Preqin, only one听别尘别谤驳颈苍驳听markets听驳谤别别苍蹿颈别濒诲听谤别苍别飞补产濒别蝉听蹿耻苍诲听has raised more than听颁辞辫别苍丑补驳别苍听wants to amass, although the 2014 $3.26 billion Guangzhou City Development Industry听贵耻苍诲听is focused on China.
Getting more money to developing economies to help them transition to a low-carbon future is a central aim of the聽聽in Dubai, but most climate-focused听蹿耻苍诲s have targeted safer, more reliable returns in developed countries.
While a deal to phase out fossil fuels has been hard to agree, more than 60 countries have backed a global聽聽to triple renewable energy聽this decade.
Most of the world’s future emissions will likely come from听别尘别谤驳颈苍驳听and middle income countries. They will need $2.8 trillion in investment by 2030 to meet cleaner energy goals including at least tripling renewable capacity,听颁辞辫别苍丑补驳别苍听partner and co-head of the听蹿耻苍诲听Niels Holst said.
“The key driver in these countries is that they need power. The growth in demand for electricity is enormous,” he told Reuters, adding that renewable energy was often the cheapest energy source.
Yet financing is far short of what’s needed, with investors deterred by the risks involved.
Only $550 million has been raised this year for听蹿耻苍诲s focused on renewable energy projects in developing countries, against more than $1 billion last year and nearly $8 billion in 2020, Preqin data showed.
Rising inflation and interest rates have hit cleaner energy project returns in developed听尘补谤办别迟s including Britain and the U.S.
Holst said the听蹿耻苍诲听is targeting investment returns “in the teens”. “The power needs to be affordable and by it’s very nature the returns can’t be too high,” he added.
He did not specify a date by which听颁辞辫别苍丑补驳别苍听aimed to have raised the听蹿耻苍诲s.
Founded in 2012, Denmark’s听颁辞辫别苍丑补驳别苍听manages 26 billion euros ($28.3 billion) of assets and runs 12听蹿耻苍诲s.
Recent development projects include an offshore wind farm in Bangladesh and the first 100% foreign-owned offshore wind energy schemes聽.
Copenhagen‘s new听蹿耻苍诲听will be pre-seeded with a batch of around 20 projects, most of them based in Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
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