ALLETE Clean Energy expands wind portfolio with acquisition of Iowa facility

ALLETE Clean Energy has finalized the acquisition of the 108 MW Storm Lake 1 wind generation facility in Iowa, USA.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of ALLETE has paid US$15 million to NRG Energy to acquire Storm Lake 1, which is adjacent to Storm Lake 2, a 78 MW wind farm purchased by ALLETE Clean Energy earlier this year.

Both Storm Lake installations use 750 kilowatt (kW) Zond turbines and are adjacent to each other in northwest Iowa. Storm Lake 2, acquired by ACE in a deal that closed in January 2014 includes 104 wind turbines; Storm Lake 1 consists of 144 turbines.

ALLETE Clean Energy President Eric Norberg, stated:

"This acquisition creates immediate efficiencies with our first Storm Lake purchase, and it complements our expanding wind fleet. This project furthers ALLETE growth in the expanding clean energy field."

Norberg expects the acquisition of Storm Lake 1 will be accretive to ALLETE's earnings in 2015, he added that the Storm Lake 1 and 2 wind farms will share an operations and maintenance facility, and both are operating under power sales agreements that extend another five years.

On January 30, 2014, ALLETE Clean Energy closed on the purchase of companies that own Storm Lake 2 and wind energy facilities located in Lake Benton, Minn., and Condon, Ore., with a total output of about 231 MW of power. ACE acquired ownership of the three wind farms from the AES Corp. for US$26.9 million, and also has an option to acquire from AES a 101 MW wind farm in Pennsylvania.

ALLETE Clean Energy announced on November 24, 2014 that it had acquired the rights to develop a 107MW wind farm near Hettinger, N.D. and upon project completion sell it to Montana Dakota Utilities for approximately US$200 million, subject to regulatory approval. Electric generation from this project, the first wind energy facility to be developed and built by ALLETE Clean Energy, will be used by MDU's utility customers.

ALLETE Chairman, President and CEO Al Hodnik, commented:

"We are very pleased with the quality of the projects undertaken by ALLETE Clean Energy. They are building upon our corporate strategy that emphasizes energy-centric earnings growth in a marketplace undergoing transformation."