Strategies

Kayne Anderson has invested in renewable infrastructure since 2013 and sees potential in the space, driven by:

A Race to Decarbonize

A Race to Decarbonize

With the growth in public awareness of climate change, corporations and governments alike are mobilizing efforts to decarbonize. With technological advances helping the cost of renewables to decline rapidly, businesses are accelerating adoption and minimizing costs, while improving their carbon footprints.

ESG-Focused Investing

ESG-Focused Investing

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) focused investing is a popular, stakeholder-centric approach to conducting business, and takes carbon emissions reduction into account, alongside numerous other issues and metrics. We track the ESG initiatives and progress of the names in our renewable portfolio on a highly detailed basis, which plays a role in guiding our investment process.

Climate-Based Policy Action

Climate-Based Policy Action

The landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 was adopted by over 191 countries and set a goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (preferably, 1.5 degrees Celsius) compared to pre-industrial levels. Since then, the pace of climate-based policy enactment has ramped up, and the passing of the recent bipartisan infrastructure bill in the US provides billions in federal funding towards clean energy infrastructure.

Liquid Renewable Infrastructure Investing

  • Kayne Anderson has been a leader in energy infrastructure investing since 1997, and has invested in renewable energy infrastructure since 2013
  • We invest in companies that own and operate the hard assets of the renewable power industry – like wind, solar & hydro power plants, storage and electrical grids
  • We invest in publicly traded debt and equity securities, and also provide private capital to public companies in the sector (common equity, preferred equity, debt)

Renewable Energy Infrastructure: At an Inflection Point

  • The investment landscape for liquid renewable infrastructure investing has changed dramatically over the last 10 years
  • The levelized cost of wind and solar power has plummeted, and is increasingly cost-competitive with fossil-fuel power generation without subsidies
  • This has led to a significant increase in global investment activity and a strategic shift among utilities, independent power producers, and other infrastructure companies to focus heavily on renewables as a core business
  • Today, there are over 135 globally-listed companies in the Kayne Anderson Renewable Infrastructure Investment Universe

Making an Impact

  • The renewable infrastructure companies we invest in are the global leaders in worldwide deployment of wind, solar and battery storage
  • As a result, they are collectively having an massive, quantifiable impact on the de-carbonization of the global energy system
  • We estimate that over 1.4 billion tons1 of CO2 emissions are avoided annually as a result of cumulative renewable infrastructure investments made by companies in our investment universe
1Source: Kayne estimate as of June 30, 2022

Watch a Summary

More than 75% of our holdings have made board-level commitments to advancing specific UN Sustainable Development Goals. These include:

Business can accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy system by investing in renewable energy resources, prioritizing energy efficient practices, and adopting clean energy infrastructure.

600 million new jobs need to be created by 2030 to keep pace with the growth of the working age population. Businesses are engines for job creation and economic growth, and they foster economic activity through their value chain.

By committing to sustainable industrialization, businesses can contribute to development efforts through upgrading local infrastructure, investing in resilient energy technologies, and making these technologies available to all people.

Companies can decarbonize their operations and supply chains, reduce the carbon footprint of their operations, set ambitious emissions reductions targets and scale up investment in the development of low-carbon products and services.

Renewable infrastructure demand is driven by several factors, including:

SUPPORTIVE GOVERNMENT POLICY

Near-term through Federal tax credits and longer-term through state renewable portfolio standards

UNIT COST IMPROVEMENTS

Increasingly cost comperative with coal/gas; requirement for subsidy support declining globally

CORPORATE MANDATES

Large global corporations increasingly establishing goals of sourcing 100% of power from renewables

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS

Investments in smart grids, battery storage and other technologies help enhance the validity of renewables

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Renewables are reducing greenhouse gas emission from electricity generation and replacing retired coal plants