British infrastructure company John Laing Group has acquired a 90.5% stake in the 100.5MW Buckthorn Wind Power Project in Erath County in the US state of Texas.
The stake has been acquired in partnership with NRG Energy, which is a developer and will be the future operator for the project.
This is the first time that the British company has invested in the state of Texas and the second time the company is investing in the US.
For the wind project, construction financing and tax equity is being provided by RBC Capital Markets. The wind farm is expected to start its operations in the fourth quarter of 2017 and will sell the power generated through long-term power purchase agreements that can last for up to 20 years.
The wind farm will have a total installed capacity of 100.5MW, powered by 26 of Vestas V126-3.45MW turbines, with an 87 metre hub height, and three of Vestas V117-3.6MW, with a hub height is 91.5m.
In last November, the company acquired 100% stake in the 29.7MW wind farm in Germany from Horath Wind power. The wind farm is powered by 9 of Vestas V112 3.3MW turbines, each with a hub height of around 40m.
The company also acquired 100% stake in a 10MW wind farm in France for an amount of €5.9m at that time. The wind farm comprises of 5 of Senvion’s MM92 turbines, each with a power generating capacity of 2.05MW.
Prior to these two investments, John Laing acquired stake of 72.3% in 30MW Kiata wind farm, located in Victoria, Australia. The wind farm was acquired from Windlab, which retains 25% in the wind farm.
Image: John Laing Group acquires majority stake in Texas wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Claire Muldoon/FreeImages.com.