Pension fund manager APG is considering investing ‘several hundred million euros’ in an offshore wind farm in Zeeland after all, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday.

APG, which runs the massive civil service pension fund, has decided to look again at North Sea wind farm investments because of a new way of calculating the risks, the Volkskrant says.

Last June APG said the technology used in offshore wind farms was still too new and government subsidies too uncertain to meet its return on investment aims.

APG has €359bn in pension assets under management and has been under pressure to boost its investments in sustainable projects. So far, the asset manager has invested €1bn of the civil service fund’s money in renewable energy sources, mainly land-based wind turbines.

Subsidies

Tenders open for the Borssele wind farm in October. The project will require total investment of over €2bn but will qualify for 15 years of subsidies, financed through domestic energy bills.

The government has set aside five offshore areas for wind farms between now and 2019. Contracts will be awarded on the basis of the lowest price for a kilowatt of electricity. Two locations off the coast of Zuid-Holland will be auctioned off in 2017 and 2018, followed by Noord-Holland in 2019.

The second biggest Dutch pension manager PGGM, which includes the health service pension fund in its stable, has not said if it will invest in Dutch offshore wind farms. It does have a stake in an Irish project, the Volkskrant says.