National Grid Pension Plan to Invest $241 Million in Renewables

(Bloomberg) --

National Grid Plc’s U.K. pension scheme will invest 185 million pounds ($241 million) in solar and wind farms in the nation.

The investment will be managed by Octopus Renewables as part of a fund for institutional investors that are looking to increase their exposure to green energy. The firm manages more than 3.2 billion pounds of green assets in Europe and Australia and opened a listed fund last year that attracted 350 million pounds.

In the U.K., the main areas for renewable energy investors are to buy operational subsidized onshore wind farms or investing in new projects that don’t have government backing, Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Renewables said in an interview.

The U.K. government has prioritized funding offshore wind farms with auctions and doesn’t allow most onshore projects to bid. New unsubsidized projects will be primarily in Scotland, where the wind speeds are strongest.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Mathis in London at wmathis2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Lars Paulsson, Andrew Reierson

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