Buyout shop Blackstone Group LP on Tuesday unveiled an alliance with a German investment company to build a wind farm in the North Sea costing more than €1 billion ($1.6 billion).
The "Meerwind" project, developed with Windland Energieerzeugungs GmbH, will host 80 wind turbines with the capacity to generate 400 megawatts, the firm said in a statement. Upon its completion, the project
will generate 1.6 billion kilowatt hours annually. Blackstone did not state how much it would invest in the project.
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Germany, the world's top producer of wind power, followed by the U.S., saw regulation amended in June providing incentives for renewable energy.
Furthermore, the project is part of Germany's objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020. Last year, Germany and Europe's biggest utility E.ON AG paid out $1.4 billion to acquire the U.S. assets of Ireland's Airtricity Holdings Ltd.
David Foley, a Blackstone senior managing director, said in the statement this will be the firm's second large renewable energy investment, coming on the heels of its investment last December in Sithe Global Power LLC's $870
million Bujagali hydroelectric power station. New York-based Sithe Global, which develops electric power plants around the world, is 80% owned by Blackstone, which has put more than $500 million into the company over the last few years, Foley recently told The Deal.
Founded by Joachim Falkenhagen in 1990, Windland Energieerzeugungs' main purpose is to develop wind energy projects in Germany. Reuters reported the deal was imminent last week. - Carolyn Murphy
See The Deal.com: Blackstone backs $1.6B wind project
