The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) today announced it has formed a partnership with Windland Energieerzeugungs GmbH, to complete the development and construction of Meerwind, one of the North Sea’s largest wind farm projects. The project, which will be located 80 kilometres off the northern coast of Germany, will cost in excess of €1 billion to build.
The wind farm will comprise 80 wind turbines with a combined generation capacity of 400 megawatts (MW). When completed, the wind farm will generate approximately 1.6 billion KWh annually. This would be sufficient to supply 500,000 households with electricity, thereby eliminating approximately 1.4 million tons of CO2 that would otherwise be produced from coal-fired power generation facilities.
"Projects of this scale have been made possible by Germany’s
comprehensive regulatory framework and incentive schemes for renewable
power, as amended by German Parliament at the beginning of June, 2008,"
Blackstone said in a release.
David Foley, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said, "We are pleased to join with our partner, Mr Falkenhagen, to complete the development and begin construction of this well designed project. This will be Blackstone’s second significant investment in renewable energy following the financial closing of the $870 million Bujagali hydroelectric power station project by Blackstone’s 80% owned portfolio company, Sithe Global, in December 2007."
Joachim Falkenhagen, founder of Windland, said, "Our rationale for partnering with Blackstone was twofold–their expertise and commitment to large scale greenfield energy infrastructure projects, and their ability to make this happen on an accelerated time frame. "
The Blackstone Group
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment and advisory firms. The group’s alternative asset management businesses include the management of corporate private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge funds, funds of funds, debt funds, collateralized loan obligation vehicles (CLOs) and closed-end mutual funds. The Blackstone Group also provides various financial advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement service.
Windland Energieerzeugungs GmbH
Windland Energieerzeugungs GmbH was founded in 1990 by Joachim Falkenhagen as one of the first dedicated developers for wind energy projects in Germany. Since 2000, the company has focused on offshore wind development and its grid connection from the coast to inland Germany.
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