The first wind farm is a 40MW facility in the Italian region of Molise, which became commercially operational in January. The second, 62MW wind farm, is located in Italy’s Apulia region and began operations earlier this month. Annual electricity output for the two plants combined is estimated at around 220GWh.
The acquisition values the wind farms at about €224million, or €2.2million per megawatt.
With the deal, Erg Renew now has total capacity of 310 MW in wind farms in its home Italian market and in France. Erg Renew, a subsidiary of Italian refining group Erg, now expects to see 530 MW in installed wind capacity in 2013, rather than the previous 428 MW forecasted in its latest industrial plan.
Erg Renew said the acquisition would be financed in part through an already existing €175 million non-recourse project-financing loan. Controlling shareholder Erg has agreed to guarantee the equity value of deal.
The deal is subject to approval from Italy’s antitrust authority. It is expected to be finalized by the end of July.
In March, Erg Renew revealed plans to double its installed wind capacity from a current 199MW to 428MW in 2013 in its core Italian and French markets, while increasingly seeking opportunities in eastern Europe.
