PensionDanmark announced that it will be investing $200m in America's first offshore wind farm.

The conditional investment commitment for the Cape Wind project will be made through the Copenhagen Infrastructure I fund, which is managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

Once the deal has been completed, the pension fund aims to construct the wind farm this year, and the project is expected to supply up to 500,000 households with power.

Torben Möger Pedersen, PensionDanmark CEO, said: "We are delighted to participate in the Cape Wind project. Investing in energy infrastructure is not new to us.

"We have made equity investments in two offshore wind farms in Denmark and three onshore wind farms in the US and provided debt financing for onshore wind parks in Sweden and Belgium.

"At a time when bond yields are very low, this is expected to be an attractive investment opportunity for us."

The funding will be in the form of a mezzanine loan, and the commitment is conditional based on a final investment decision to be made by the end of the year.

PensionDanmark said that the Cape Wind project, which has been in development for 12 years, could become one of the world's largest offshore wind farms with up to 130 turbines of 3.6 MW each.

The pension fund has invested more than DKK 6bn in infrastructure, including Danish offshore wind farms in Nysted and Anholt and three US wind farms in Texas and Pennsylvania.

It expects to invest a further DKK 12bn in infrastructure assets over the next 4-5 years, half of which will be invested through the Copenhagen Infrastructure I fund.

Last month, PensionDanmark, along with other Danish pension funds, revealed in a report that infrastructure projects in Denmark should be based on public-private partnerships.

First published 21.06.2013

monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk