Industriens Pension and Better Energy are expanding their partnership and are planning large solar cell investments in Denmark and Poland.

With the expansion, the expectation is that a further seven new solar parks will be established by the end of 2022. Industriens Pension and Better Energy had already entered into a partnership agreement for up to 16 solar parks, which was the largest solar cell investment to date.

With a total of 23 solar parks, the partnership will be the largest independent producer of solar energy in Northern Europe. Industriens Pension and Better Energy will each own 50 per cent of the completed solar cell parks, while Better Energy will be responsible for the development, construction and operation of the parks.

“The joint investment is expected to ensure a very significant expansion of fossil-free energy in both Denmark and Poland. Here we really get a big positive climate effect per invested krone. At the same time, we expect that the investment will provide a stable and long-term return for our members. It is a good example of the type of climate-friendly energy investments that we have had a strong focus on in recent years,” Industriens Pension CEO, Laila Mortensen, said.

The 23 solar parks are expected to be divided into 17 parks in Denmark and six parks in Poland. In total, the solar parks will have a capacity of more than 1 GWp, and they will be able to supply green electricity corresponding to the electricity consumption for approx. 880,000 Danes. This is the first time that solar energy will be rolled out at such a pace and scale in both Denmark and Poland.

“Our continued collaboration with Industriens Pension paves the way for a new green era. We are on the first pages of the next chapter in the green transition, where it is about rolling out and accelerating scalable renewable energy production on market terms. And in Poland, there is a real need to push the accelerator to the bottom,” Better Energy CEO, Rasmus Lildholdt Kjær, said.

He points out that in Poland there is an increasing focus on the need for a green transformation of the energy sector, as about 70 per cent of Poland's electricity consumption is currently based on coal. This means that the positive climate effects per invested krone in Poland is higher than in most other EU countries.

The additional seven new solar parks will have a total construction cost of up to DKK 2bn and in total the construction sum for the now up to 23 solar parks in the partnership will land at approx. DKK 5bn. Of this, about DKK 2bn comes from equity from the parties, while the remaining part comes as long-term construction financing.

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