Infrastructure may once have been a staid asset class. But the sector is expanding and segmenting, offering greater opportunity for investors in search of something beyond widows and orphans–type returns.

Nowhere is that truer than in the newly emerging niche sectors of infrastructure surrounding renewable energy, next-generation fuels and carbon sequestration. But where and how should investors seek opportunity that rewards them for taking on sensible risk?

“It’s changed pretty dramatically over the last five years,” concedes Jim Hughes, the managing partner in charge of energy transition at EnCap Investments. “We are perfectly willing to be an early adopter, but the opportunity still needs to meet the basic standards of infrastructure. The equipment needs to work; someone needs to build it at a guaranteed price and guaranteed performance, with revenue that compensates us.”

TRISECTING THE UNIVERSE

When EnCap raised its first