NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) has acquired Bluewater Wind, a leading U.S. offshore wind development businesses, from Babcock & Brown and Arcadia Windpower. The transaction was funded with cash on hand, for an undisclosed sum.
"This acquisition combines Bluewater’s strong project pipeline of
offshore wind parks in the northeast—one of NRG’s core regions—with
NRG’s own successful development, engineering, procurement and
construction teams," NRG said in a release.
Bluewater’s development team is currently working on
more than seven offshore projects in the Northeast, including projects
in Delaware and New Jersey in advanced stages of development. Bluewater
has a 25-year, 200-megawatt (MW) power purchase agreement (PPA) with
Delmarva Power & Light Company that has been approved by the
Delaware Public Service Commission and other state agencies.
In New
Jersey, the company is one of three preferred developers awarded a $4
million rebate from the state to build a meteorological tower, which
collects wind data, for offshore projects. Bluewater also has proposed
several offshore wind projects in other Northeast locations.
Bluewater’s existing development team will become NRG employees,
working out of Bluewater’s office in Hoboken, NJ. The company’s
President and founder, Peter Mandelstam, will remain President of
Bluewater Wind and also serve as head of NRG’s offshore wind
development efforts.
“Acquiring an experienced offshore developer like Bluewater, with good projects already in the development pipeline, gives NRG first mover advantage in this potentially lucrative market,” David Crane, President and CEO of NRG Energy, Inc., said.
NRG Energy, Inc., headquartered in Princeton, NJ, owns and operates one of the country’s largest power generation portfolios with more than 24,000 MW of generation capacity. NRG’s retail business, Reliant Energy, serves more than 1.6 million residential, business, commercial and industrial customers in Texas. NRG is a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a group of business and environmental organizations calling for mandatory legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.