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FINANCE

Norway wealth fund buys first renewable energy stake

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, which is financed from taxes paid by the nation's oil and gas industry, said Wednesday it had made its first direct investment in renewable energy infrastructure.

Norway wealth fund buys first renewable energy stake
Photo by Nicholas Doherty on Unsplash

The fund, which has more than 1.1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) in assets, said it will buy a 50 percent stake in what is currently the world’s second-largest offshore wind farm. 

The stake is in the Borssele 1 & 2 wind farms, located in the North Sea off the coast of the Netherlands and capable of generating 752 megawatts. 

It will be acquired for 1.38 billion euros from the Danish firm Orsted, which will continue to own the remaining 50 percent in the project.  

READ MORE: Why Norwegian fishermen are against more offshore wind farms

“Unlisted renewable energy infrastructure is a new asset class for the fund, which we invest in to improve the overall diversification of the fund,”
said Nicolai Tangen, CEO at Norges Bank Investment Management which manages the fund.

The sovereign wealth fund invests in the Norwegian state’s oil and gas revenue in shares, bonds and real estate in order to finance the future needs of the country’s generous welfare state.

The fund, which has ethical guidelines for its investments, has stakes in the capital of renewable energy producers.

This is however its first direct stake in renewable energy infrastructure since the Norwegian parliament authorised such investments in 2019 

The fund has said it plans to invest around 10 billion euros into renewable energy infrastructure.

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BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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