Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has created CEI, a new company that will focus on developing energy islands globally.

CEI, which will leverage CIP’s experience in offshore wind, will receive financial support from investors across the Nordic region, Europe and North America.

The company is developing a portfolio of ten projects in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and South East Asia.

Energy islands represent a significant advancement in offshore energy, facilitating the extensive scaling necessary for the next wave of offshore wind development worldwide.

These hubs integrate proven technologies innovatively and on a much larger scale, promoting the cost-effective construction and integration of offshore wind capacity.

The initiative’s primary benefits include dramatically lowering power transmission expenses, enabling large-scale offshore green hydrogen production and fostering synergies between electricity and hydrogen generation.

These factors are crucial in enhancing the value and efficiency of energy islands.

CEI will operate as an autonomous entity, with CIP and a consortium of investors holding the majority stake.

The founding investor group comprises prominent Nordic, European and North American entities with a history of renewable energy infrastructure investments, such as PensionDanmark, PFA, SEB and Andel.

CIP managing partner and founder Jakob Baruël Poulsen stated: “Our vision is to provide concrete solutions to the global challenge of scaling up renewables. If we want to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, we will need to scale up the deployment of offshore wind and other renewables to an unprecedented level.

“Today, the challenge for offshore wind is less about building the incremental offshore wind farm and more how to integrate large-scale offshore wind energy into the global energy systems. We see energy islands as a key tool in solving this challenge and realising the ambitious offshore wind targets across the globe.”