Energy futuresBlackstone, Windland in North Sea wind farm project
U.S. investment group and German energy company forms partnership to construct one of the North Sea’s largest wind farms
The Blackstone Group, the global Investment and advisory firm, has formed a partnership with German wind energy group Windland Energieerzeugungs to complete the development and construction of Meerwind, one of the North Sea’s largest wind farms. The project, which will be located 80 km off the northern coast of Germany, will comprise eighty wind turbines with a combined generation capacity of 400 MW. The farm will cost in excess of €1 billion to build. The project supports the German government’s stated objective of fighting global warming by reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by the year 2020. When completed, the wind farm will generate approximately 1.6 billion KWh annually, sufficient to supply 500,000 households with electricity, and eliminating approximately 1.4 million tons of CO2 which would otherwise be produced from coal-fired power generation facilities. “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 percent owned portfolio company, Sithe Global, in December 2007,” said David Foley, senior managing director at Blackstone.