Blackrock acquires 50% stake in 200MW wind farm

A fund managed by BlackRock’s Infrastructure Investment Group has purchased a 50% interest in the 200MW Hereford Wind Project, located in Deaf Smith County, Texas from EDF Renewable Energy.

BlackRock and EDF Renewable Energy have also signed agreements to enter into similar partnerships on the 200 MW Longhorn and 194 MW Spinning Spur 3 projects upon completion later this year.

The Hereford Project will interconnect to the recently completed Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) transmission infrastructure which enables delivery of long-term, clean, competitively priced power from the strong renewable resource regions of West Texas to the rest of Texas.

The Hereford Project, comprised of a total of 104 turbines, manufactured by General Electric and Vestas, will generate enough electricity to power approximately 55,000 homes, and avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 80,000 vehicles off the road. EDF Renewable Energy will continue to provide ongoing operations and maintenance services for the facility, including 24/7 remote monitoring from its NERC compliant Operations Control Center, pursuant to a 20 year contract.

Jim Barry, Global Head of BlackRock Infrastructure, stated:

“We are pleased to partner with EDF Renewable Energy to add the Hereford Project to our global renewables portfolio.”

David Giordano, head of the North American Renewable Infrastructure team at BlackRock Infrastructure, commented:

“We’re excited about the North American renewable infrastructure market and look forward to growing our relationship with EDF Renewable Energy. This project is a great example of the growing set of investment opportunities in US infrastructure and represents our second investment in Texas.”

Tristan Grimbert, CEO of EDF Renewable Energy, North America added:

“This transaction is a testament to our strong partnership with BlackRock Infrastructure and illustrates our philosophy of building long-term relationships with leading industry counterparties. BlackRock Infrastructure is also our investment partner in the 100MW Spearville 3 wind project and we look forward to new joint ventures with BlackRock over the coming years.”

BlackRock operates one of the largest renewable power investment platforms in the world with over $1.5 billion of AUM and commitments. The Hereford Project is the 16th transaction completed to date by BlackRock Infrastructure in the renewables space, bringing the total invested portfolio to approximately 615MW of wind and 178MW of solar projects located across the USA, Canada, Ireland, UK and France.

This transaction illustrates EDF Renewable Energy’s strategy to develop, build and sell stakes in certain of its assets, with over 1,000MW of equivalent net capacity sold over the past three years.

We have recently reported about several wind transactions:

• Pattern Energy acquires 147 MW Mont Sainte-Marguerite Wind project
• UK government sells its stake in Greencoat UK Wind
• Glennmont acquires 3 wind farms from Diamond Wind Europe and Green Power Development Holding
• DONG Energy acquires 1.2 GW Hornsea offshore project
• Apex Clean Energy sells Kingfisher Wind to First Reserve