Dubai—Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, had acquired a 9.5 percent stake in Skyborn Renewables, an offshore wind developer and operator.
In a statement, PIF said it is investing in Skyborn alongside Global Infrastructure Partners, a US-based infrastructure investment fund.
The investment will allow PIF to participate in the acceleration of energy transition and clean energy at an international scale through an investment in a geographically diversified offshore wind energy platform, the statement said.
The Skyborn, which is based in Bremen, Germany, has a presence in 15 European and Asia Pacific markets, with over 20 years of development experience and a record of over 7 Gigawatts of capacity developed to date. The company a pipeline of over 30 GW gross of offshore wind projects in various stages of development in Germany, France and Taiwan.
PIF has a strong track record of investing in the low carbon sector such as electric vehicles and solar energy projects, as part of a commitment to develop 70 percent of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy by 2030. PIF has major investments in renewable energy companies such as ACWA Power and the Sudair and Al Shuaibah Solar Energy projects, and in the development of electric vehicles through investments in E1, Lucid Motors and Ceer.
In 2021, PIF and Saudi Tadawul Group also announced the Voluntary Carbon Market Initiative, which in October 2022 held an inaugural auction of 1.4 million tons of carbon credits, the largest-ever carbon credit sale.
Turqi A. Alnowaiser, Deputy Governor and Head of the International Investments Division at PIF, said: “This investment opportunity enhances our objectives to increase our portfolio of investments in the low carbon sector, which now includes solar, power generation, electric vehicles and offshore wind energy. Offshore wind has a key role to play in driving global decarbonization and we see significant growth opportunities for Skyborn.”