Danish giant behind huge Australian renewables pipeline rakes in more than $A20 billion in new funds

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, the Danish renewables giant behind a more than 40 gigawatt (GW) development pipeline in Australia, has raised more than €12 billion ($A20.6 billion) in its latest clean energy investment round.

The new CIP fund, its fifth flagship, will target investments in onshore and offshore wind, solar PV, battery storage – and in low-risk OECD countries in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. It is expected to add 30GW of new energy capacity to the global grid.

“Reaching €12 billion is a fantastic result and a testament to our proven industrial approach to energy infrastructure investments,” said Jakob Baruël Poulsen, managing partner at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

“I am proud that several of the world’s largest and most sophisticated investors are committed to CIP, and I am delighted to once again have the support of our existing investors and welcome many new investors to our platform.”

CIP did not provide specifics of which six projects have already secured FID from the new fund, known as CI V, or of the larger 50 plus development stage projects, so it is unknown whether any of the new funds will make their way to Australia.

CIP has an extensive footprint in Australia, with a pipeline of more than 40GW worth of projects in active development across the country – a hefty share of CIP’s 120GW-plus total global pipeline of projects – including in offshore and onshore wind, large-scale solar, green hydrogen, pumped hydro, and battery storage.

Included in this pipeline is the offshore wind project likely to become Australia’s first to make it into operation – the 2.2GW Star of the South project – which is being developed by CIP in partnership with Cbus and its original Australian co-founders Andy Evans, Terry Kallis and Peter Sgardelis.

In South Australia, CIP has begun construction of the 240 MW and 960 MWh Summerfield battery, the first giga-scale battery project in Australia’s most advanced renewable energy state.

CIP also recently launched a new all-Australian subsidiary, Voyager Renewables, which boasts a portfolio of projects aiming to deliver 6GW of new energy capacity across the country within the next decade.

Among Voyager Renewables’ proposed projects are the 450MW Sunnyside onshore wind farm, the 2GW+ Energy Oasis solar and battery project, and the 1GW Western Tablelands Wind Farm in Victoria which will also boast battery storage.

As one of the world’s leading fund managers with 13 funds having raised approximately €32 billion for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from approximately 180 international institutional investors, CIP says its flagship funds are capable of “generating attractive risk-adjusted returns and long-term, stable, and predictable cash flows.”

CIP says large-scale greenfield energy infrastructure, as renewables – particularly solar and onshore wind – “in most markets are the most cost-competitive and scalable new forms of energy, and thereby key for countries to improve cost-competitiveness and energy security.”