The company is also selling 100% stake in a 100MW solar-plus-storage project to NextEra Energy Partners
NextEra Energy Resources is selling a 90% stake in a 700MW wind portfolio and a 300MW solar portfolio. (Credit: Ed White from Pixabay)
NextEra Energy Resources, through two separate deals, has agreed to sell a 90% stake in a 1GW renewables portfolio and a 100% stake in a 100MW solar-plus-storage project in the US to NextEra Energy Partners (NEP) and a consortium led by KKR.
The company will get nearly $1.3bn in total proceeds through the two transactions to be executed by a subsidiary.
NextEra Energy Partners will acquire a 40% stake in the long-term contracted renewables portfolio, which comprises seven wind and solar generating assets. Of these, three are wind farms with a total capacity of around 700MW, while the other four are solar power plants with a combined capacity of around 300MW.
Both NextEra Energy Resources and NextEra Energy Partners are owned by Florida-based clean energy company NextEra Energy.
The KKR-led consortium of private infrastructure investors will acquire 50% interest in the renewables portfolio, while NextEra Energy Resources will retain a 10% stake.
NextEra Energy Partners will acquire 100% of Wilmot Solar Energy Center from NextEra Energy Resources. Wilmot is the project company that owns the 100MW solar and 30MW storage generation facility in Arizona.
NextEra Energy chairman and CEO Jim Robo said: “In addition to generating attractive ongoing fee income, the sale provides an opportunity to take advantage of the robust demand for high-quality, long-term contracted renewable energy assets and efficiently recycle approximately $1.3 billion in total capital that can be redeployed into new renewables growth opportunities.”
The deals, which are subject to the receipt of certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, are likely to be closed in Q4 2020.
Upon completion of the transactions, NextEra Energy Partners will contribute its stakes in the newly acquired projects to a new portfolio which will also have four of its existing renewable assets.
The assets to be included in the portfolio are Northern Colorado Wind Energy Center, Baldwin Wind Energy Center, Elk City I Wind Energy Center, and the stake in the entity that owns Genesis Solar Energy Center.
For the new portfolio, which will have a capacity of 1.125GW, NextEra Energy Partners has entered into a nearly $1.1bn convertible equity portfolio financing with the KKR-led consortium.
KKR said that it has also inked a letter of intent with NextEra Energy Partners to invest around $900m in future renewable energy deals to give access to capital for future growth.