Expert Criticizes AP Funds’ Investments in Wind Power – Bleeding Pension Money

The AP funds have previously been criticized for their investments in green failures such as Northvolt and Stegra, and it has now become clear that even the Third and Fourth AP Funds are losing money on investments in wind power.

It is through their joint company Polhem Infra that the Third and Fourth AP Funds have invested in wind power. Polhem Infra was founded in 2019 with the goal to “generate returns for the Swedish public pension system through long-term investments in sustainable infrastructure,” something that hasn’t gone too well, according to Associate Professor Christian Sandström in a column in Affärsvärlden.

Polhem Infra owns 23 percent of Skaftåsen Windfarm, which in 2024 lost SEK 250 million, resulting in a loss margin of minus 329 percent for the 35 wind turbines.

At the inauguration, it was claimed that they were “an important addition of renewable power in Sweden that paves the way for a sustainable transition toward a sustainable society.” Polhem Infra wrote that it continues to “invest pension capital in projects that contribute to Sweden’s climate goals with the aim of a one hundred percent renewable power system with high security of supply and low environmental impact.”

Things like overcapacity and low electricity prices have caused wind power in Sweden to suffer from chronic profitability problems. While the pension funds are bleeding, the projects remain lucrative for the project developers.

Skaftåsen was developed by Arise Windpower, which in 2019 wrote that the divestment “is expected to have a positive profit effect totaling around SEK 210 million during the years 2019 to 2021.”

Economic Disaster

Sandström:

On one side are virtue-signaling officials who want to save the climate by playing with someone else’s money.

On the other side is a listed company ready to squeeze out as many kronor as possible.

The result is that yet another financial disaster is dumped on Sweden’s pensioners.