By Mario Marroquin
Toronto-based renewable energy firm and Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board (CPP Investments) subsidiary Cordelio Power has penned an
agreement for the exclusive origination and development of wind assets by Nebraska-based
Tenaska.
The five-year agreement states Tenaska will originate and
develop wind energy assets around the Midcontinent Independent System Operator,
the PJM Interconnection and the Western Interconnection for Cordelio. The CPP
Investments subsidiary also acquired a 1GW portfolio of renewable projects
under construction by Tenaska just six months after acquiring another 400MW
wind project under development in the outskirts of Columbia, Missouri.
“We look forward to working with Tenaska, a proven
developer, to build out a large-scale portfolio of wind projects over the next
several years, as we expand our efforts to provide clean power to North
American markets,” Nick Karambelas, Cordelio’s chief investment officer, said
in a statement.
Cordelio and Tenaska’s agreement follows two separate commitments
towards solar and wind assets this year by another CPP investment vehicle,
Renewable Power Capital, based in London. Renewable Power Capital purchased
four wind farms in Sweden in March for €803 million (US$805 million).
Reuters reported in August that CPP Investments and Abu
Dhabi’s Masdar are among several bidders seeking a 40% stake in Iberdrola’s €1.4
billion (US$1.4 billion) wind offshore farm investment in Germany.
CPP Investments also reported a US$300 million commitment to
Hillhouse Real Asset Opportunities Fund, which aims to invest in Chinese life
sciences, data centers and logistics for the three months ended in June. The pension system reported a 10.8% return in
infrastructure for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Gains in the infrastructure asset class, which accounts for
9% of the fund’s $539 billion AUM were driven by rebounding global activity and
increased demand for essential infrastructure services, the fund said in its
FY2022 annual report. The pension system aims to expand the fund’s green and
transition asset investments from $67 billion to at least $130 billion by 2030.
CPP Investments reported a net return of 6.8% for the year
ended in March.
