A fund managed by BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners has acquired 100 percent of the Gortahile Windfarm, which owns and operates a 20-megawatt wind farm project in County Laois in Ireland, from ABO Wind Ireland, the company said in a press release.
Gortahile Windfarm recently began commercial operation and is expected to produce about 70-gigawatt hours of electricity per year to meet the needs of over 11,200 households, according to the company.
As part of its geographically diversified investment portfolio, BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners aims to acquire additional wind generation assets in Ireland over the course of its investment period, according to the press release. Out of this, biomass power generation will account for 20 percent of the portfolio.
The fund, which has a target size of €405 million, has so far raised around €250 million including commitments from institutional investors.
Francesco Cacciabue, chief financial officer and investment director, said the fund targets both operational wind farms and those under construction.
“We are securing a deep pipeline of projects with a number of developers and owners to enable us achieve our target investment size in Ireland,” he said.
The Gortahile Windfarm acquisition is the first in a partnership agreement between BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners and ABO Wind, in which the parties have agreed to transact 50 megawatts of generation capacity over the next 16 months.
ABO Wind is a wind energy developer with investments in many European countries. The company has been involved in development, construction and maintenance of commercial wind farms with a capacity of 400-megawatts for almost 15 years.
BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners is part of BNP Paribas Investment Partners and invests in construction and operational clean energy infrastructure assets in on-shore wind, solar photovoltaic biomass and small-scale hydro power generation in Europe. The fund is managed by a team of six professionals drawn from a range of backgrounds within the renewable energy and financial fields.
