Norway’s $2.1 Trillion Fund Beefs Up Energy Team for US Deals

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(Bloomberg) — Norway’s $2.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund has reinforced its energy team as it looks to expand its portfolio of renewable assets in Europe and into North America.

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The world’s biggest sovereign investor hired three people in New York over the summer, bolstering the size of the team overseeing its energy portfolio to about 20, according to Harald von Heyden, global head of energy and infrastructure. The fund sees a brightening market for closely held renewable wind, solar and power-grid projects even as the sector faces political turmoil.

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“We have to find good deals, first and foremost, but we are optimistic,” von Heyden said in an interview in Oslo. “This year and last, you’re seeing gigantic projects becoming a reality, not just on the drawing board.”

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Norges Bank Investment Management, as it is known officially, made its first renewables foray in 2021, with a stake in a Dutch offshore wind farm alongside Danish wind developer Orsted A/S. While it took almost a year and a half for a follow-up deal to materialize — a €600 million ($690 million) agreement to buy a 49% share in an array of Spanish onshore wind and solar plants — the pace of investments and the size of purchases have jumped in recent months.

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While the bulk of NBIM’s renewable infrastructure investments to date are in Europe, the US is “on the doorstep,” von Heyden said, and the team is “actively looking” for deals. When asked about whether the Trump administration’s war on renewables is weighing on sentiment, he said, “you have political risk everywhere, you just have to be smart.”

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Von Heyden, formerly head of energy and infrastructure at Arctic Securities, last year oversaw the merger of the two teams managing the fund’s unlisted and listed energy portfolios worth close to $50 billion. This includes everything from physical solar arrays and wind parks to shareholdings in oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp and wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S.

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In its largest deal to date, NBIM was part of a consortium that in September bought 46% of Tennet Holding BV’s German power grid, valued at €9.5 billion. The Norwegian investor agreed to invest almost half the sum.

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It was an opportunity that “comes once or twice in a career, if you’re lucky,” the executive said, adding that it was a “double-first,” marking NBIM’s entry into power networks and also into owning a stake in a company with thousands of employees.

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The fund remains interested in adding more power grids to its portfolio, as well as battery storage, he said, though its requirements for the reputation, experience and creditworthiness of its partners “filters out a lot.” As does NBIM’s minimum ticket size of roughly €500 million, he said.

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The fund’s portfolio of unlisted renewable infrastructure now includes 12 investments, worth about $14 billion. This is still a fraction of the approximately $40 billion available to NBIM, with its mandate allowing up to 2% of the fund’s value to be invested in the space either in Europe or in North America. It can invest up to 15% of this sum indirectly into renewable energy funds, such as Brookfield Asset Management’s Global Transition Fund II.

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—With assistance from Heidi Taksdal Skjeseth.

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