Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Invests in Scottish Hydroelectric Transmission System

The pension fund will pay $2.4 billion for 25% of SSEN Transmission, continuing the plan’s allocation to infrastructure, which has increased 60% since 2017.

The $242.5 billion Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has taken a 25% stake in SSEN Transmission, a division of SSE PLC, a multinational energy company headquartered in Perth, Scotland.

The pension fund reported paying £1.47 billion ($2.4 billion) for the share of SSEN Transmission. The placement is the pension fund’s largest power-distribution and utility investment.

SSEN Transmission, the trading name for Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission, delivers hydroelectric power from northern Scotland to the rest of Great Britain. The company’s network consists of underground and subsea cables, overhead lines, and substations. The division is already a mass exporter of renewable energy; around two-thirds of power generated in the network’s area gets exported to demand centers further south in Britain.

The SSEN transaction is the latest in a series of investments that OTPP has made in power transmission and distribution.

In 2021, the pension plan bought a 40% share of Finnish power distributor Caruna, which is in the process of burying most of its power lines in order to “weatherproof” its grid. The same year, the fund bought power transmission network Evoltz, a Brazilian operator, which owns more than 3,500 kilometers of power lines spanning 10 Brazilian states.

The investments are a part of the Ontario Teachers’ Infrastructure & Natural Resources group, which invests in energy infrastructure worldwide to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.

In May, OTPP agreed to invest up to $1 billion into a new offshore wind farm business launched by Macquarie Group Limited, of Australia, which aims to develop 14 fixed-bottom and floating wind farms in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Ireland and Great Britain.

OTPP in 2021 had acquired Scotia Gas Networks Limited, a British gas distribution company that manages natural and green gas distribution networks in Scotland and England, from SSE PLC.

“SSEN Transmission is one of Europe’s fastest growing transmission networks. Its network stretches across some of the most challenging terrain in Scotland–from the North Sea and across the Highlands–to deliver safe, reliable, renewable energy to demand centers across the UK,” said Charles Thomazi, OTPP senior managing director and head of EMEA infrastructure and natural resources at, in a press release. “We’re delighted to partner again with SSE and are committed to supporting the growth of its network and the vital role it plays in the UK’s green energy revolution.”

The fund’s total infrastructure assets under management have grown by more than 60% since 2017, reaching $30.6 billion at the end of June 2022.