Marubeni takes first North American wind farm stake

CANADA: Japanese investment giant Marubeni Corporation has entered the North American onshore wind business with the purchase of 49% stake in Invenergy Wind LLC's 78MW Raleigh Wind Energy Centre in Ontario.

by Diane Bailey 12 January 2011

"This strategic transaction establishes Marubeni's presence in the North American renewable power market," said Hiro Mizuno, CEO of Marubeni Power International, which manages the company's electricity sector investments in North America.

"We will realize significant value in having a partner with the experience and successful track record of Invenergy."

The terms of the deal were not released.

The Raleigh project, which has a 20-year power purchase contract with the Ontario Power Authority, is the second partnership between the two companies.

Since 2009, Marubeni and Invenergy have jointly owned a portfolio of 1041MW of gas-fired power plants in the United States.

Marubeni has also recently announced plans to enter the regulated transmission and distribution business in Texas with Hunt Power, and is partnering with Google in the development of undersea power cables off the US Atlantic coast to deliver electricity from offshore wind.

The Raleigh project, made up of 52 GE Energy 1.5MW turbines, is under construction and expected on line in February. As majority owner, Invenergy will operate and manage the facility.