EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE) has closed on the transaction to sell a 50 percent interest in the 250 megawatt (MW) Roosevelt Wind Project and the 49.65 MW Milo Wind Project to a fund managed by BlackRock Infrastructure. The closing of this transaction seals the partnership on the final two of five projects for which BlackRock and EDF Renewable Energy have signed agreements for over the past year.
The two wind projects are adjacently located in Roosevelt County, New Mexico. The combined 150 Vestas wind turbines produce enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 170,000 New Mexico households. Both projects are operational with Roosevelt delivering electricity to Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS), a subsidiary of Xcel Energy; Milo electricity is committed into the Real-Time market in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Regional Transmission Organization (RTO).
Raphael Declercq, Vice President Portfolio Strategy at EDF Renewable Energy stated, “In total, EDF RE has committed 50 percent stakes in 894 MW of US wind energy projects to BlackRock since the start of 2015 along with a 40 percent stake in an earlier transaction. Those partial sell-downs are an integral part of our business, and this particular portfolio transaction is a testament to our strong partnership with BlackRock Infrastructure; it illustrates our philosophy of building long-term relationships with leading industry counterparties.”
BlackRock Infrastructure invests in the following EDF Renewable Energy projects:
|
50% |
||||
|
2016…… |
Roosevelt Wind (250 MW), New Mexico | |||
| Milo Wind (49.65 MW), New Mexico | ||||
|
2015…… |
Spinning Spur 3 Wind (194 MW), Texas | |||
| Longhorn Wind (200 MW), Texas | ||||
| Hereford Wind (200 MW), Texas | ||||
|
40% |
||||
|
2013…… |
Spearville 3 Wind (100.8 MW), Kansas | |||
“The North American renewable infrastructure market presents tremendous opportunity for our clients and we are pleased to grow our successful relationship with EDF Renewable Energy,” said David Giordano, head of the North American Renewable Infrastructure team at BlackRock Infrastructure. “Repeat business with a trusted partner creates reciprocal efficiencies in our transactions.”
EDF RE remains closely involved in Roosevelt and Milo maintaining 50 percent ownership stake. EDF Renewable Services, the leading provider of renewable operations and maintenance services in North America, will provide balance-of-plant operations and maintenance for the facility including 24/7 remote monitoring from its NERC compliant Operations Control Center (OCC).
BlackRock operates one of the largest renewable power investment platforms in the world with over $1.5 billion of equity assets under management. To date, BlackRock Infrastructure has a total invested portfolio of approximately 1.9GW of wind and solar projects and $2 billion AUM located across the USA, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, France and the UK.
EDF Renewable Energy is one of the largest renewable energy developers in North America with 7.8 gigawatts of wind, solar, biomass, and biogas projects developed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
EDF Renewable Energy is a leading U.S. independent power producer with more than 25 years of expertise in the renewable industry, covering all range of services from project development, management to operations and maintenance. EDF Renewable Energy specializes in wind and solar photovoltaic with presence in other segments of the renewable energy market: biogas, biomass, hydro, marine energy and storage solutions. The company develops, constructs, operates and manages renewable energy projects throughout the United States for its own accord as well as for third parties. EDF Renewable Energy’s North American portfolio consists of 7.8 gigawatts of developed projects with 4.1 gigawatts of installed capacity throughout US, Canada, and Mexico. EDF Renewable Energy is a subsidiary of EDF Energies Nouvelles. EDF Energies Nouvelles is the renewable energy arm of the EDF group, the leading electricity company in the world.
BlackRock, the largest investment manager in the world with $4.506 trillion of AUM as of December 31, 2015, sits at the intersection of global capital and infrastructure investing opportunities. With deep industry expertise, demonstrated access to proprietary deal flow and a purely fiduciary mindset, our experienced investment professionals leverage BlackRock’s unparalleled risk management capabilities and global reach to deliver compelling investment opportunities to meet our clients’ needs. BlackRock provides investors with infrastructure equity and debt investments via Funds, Co-Investments, Managed Accounts and Infrastructure Solutions and currently has over $8.3 billion in invested and committed assets. Our team of infrastructure investment professionals is based in New York, London, Dublin, Mexico, Paris, Hong Kong, Seattle, Stockholm and Zurich.
