BlackRock acquires wind projects from EDF Renewable Energy in New Mexico

EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE) has closed on the transaction to sell a 50 percent interest in the 250 megawatt (MW) Roosevelt Wind Project and the 49.65 MW Milo Wind Project to a fund managed by BlackRock Infrastructure. 

The closing of this transaction seals the partnership on the final two of five projects for which BlackRock and EDF Renewable Energy have signed agreements for over the past year.

The two wind projects are adjacently located in Roosevelt County, New Mexico. The combined 150 Vestas wind turbines produce enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 170,000 New Mexico households. Both projects are operational with Roosevelt delivering electricity to Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS), a subsidiary of Xcel Energy; Milo electricity is committed into the Real-Time market in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Regional Transmission Organization (RTO).

Raphael Declercq, Vice President Portfolio Strategy at EDF Renewable Energy stated: 

“In total, EDF RE has committed 50 percent stakes in 894 MW of US wind energy projects to BlackRock since the start of 2015 along with a 40 percent stake in an earlier transaction. Those partial sell-downs are an integral part of our business, and this particular portfolio transaction is a testament to our strong partnership with BlackRock Infrastructure; it illustrates our philosophy of building long-term relationships with leading industry counterparties.”

David Giordano, head of the North American Renewable Infrastructure team at BlackRock Infrastructure, said: 

“The North American renewable infrastructure market presents tremendous opportunity for our clients and we are pleased to grow our successful relationship with EDF Renewable Energy. Repeat business with a trusted partner creates reciprocal efficiencies in our transactions.”

EDF RE remains closely involved in Roosevelt and Milo maintaining 50 percent ownership stake. EDF Renewable Services, the leading provider of renewable operations and maintenance services in North America, will provide balance-of-plant operations and maintenance for the facility including 24/7 remote monitoring from its NERC compliant Operations Control Center (OCC).

BlackRock operates one of the largest renewable power investment platforms in the world with over $1.5 billion of equity assets under management. To date, BlackRock Infrastructure has a total invested portfolio of approximately 1.9GW of wind and solar projects and $2 billion AUM located across the USA, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, France and the UK.

EDF Renewable Energy is one of the largest renewable energy developers in North America with 7.8 gigawatts of wind, solar, biomass, and biogas projects developed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.