The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co., also known as Masdar, has acquired stakes in two wind farms in Texas and New Mexico in its first entry into the North American renewable energy investment.
The seller was John Laing Group.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Masdar will acquire John Laing’s interests in the Rocksprings wind farm in Texas and the Sterling wind farm in New Mexico.
The 149-megawatt Rocksprings project, commissioned in 2017, comprises 53 GE 2.3-megawatt and 16 GE 1.72-megawatt turbines at a site in Val Verde County, Texas. The Sterling project in Lea County, N.M., has a total installed capacity of 29.9 megawatts, provided by 13 GE 2.3-megawatt turbines. This project was also commissioned in 2017.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year.
America recorded 6.3 percent of its electricity generated from wind in 2017, and is home to one of the largest and fastest-growing wind markets in the world, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The country installed over 7,000 MW of wind energy capacity in 2017, according to data from the Global Wind Energy Council.