WEC Energy to raise stake in three Midwest wind farms

US-based WEC Energy Group has reached an agreement to increase its stake in three Midwest wind farms with an investment of $118m.

The power plants included in the deal are the 250MW Blooming Grove wind farm in Illinois, US, the 300MW Thunderhead Wind Energy Center and the 200MW Upstream Wind Energy Center, both located in Nebraska, US.

The deal will increase WEC’s ownership stake in the wind farms from 80% to 90%.

Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction will add 75MW of capacity to WEC Energy Group’s portfolio.

Invenergy is currently developing the Blooming Grove and Thunderhead projects that are expected to go live by the end of the year.

Invenergy also developed the Upstream Wind Energy Center that started operations in January 2019.

The company said that all three wind facilities have long-term offtake agreements with multinational corporations.

WEC Energy Group executive chairman Gale Klappa said: “This agreement marks another step forward for the energy infrastructure segment of our five-year capital plan.

“The plan calls for deploying $1.8bn in high-quality projects that will serve strong, vibrant companies for years to come.”

In September 2019, WEC Energy acquired an 80% ownership stake in Thunderhead Wind Energy Centre from Invenergy for $338m.

In January, WEC Energy acquired an 80% ownership stake in the Blooming Grove Wind Farm in a $345m deal.

Equipped with 94 GE wind turbines, Blooming Grove wind facility will supply clean energy to Illinois electrical grid. The clean energy will be sufficient to power 69,000 homes in the region every year.