European green independent power producer NeXtWind has made three strategic investments in wind farms in northern Germany with a combined capacity of 70MW.
NeXtWind said the $50m (€42m) acquisitions were made in the first six months after the company’s debut fundraising round, where it secured $100m from institutional backers and family offices.
The projects across Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt comprise 34 turbines and an average age of 14 years.
NeXtWind plans to rejuvenate the sites with new, more efficient technology, almost tripling the annual output to roughly 300 gigawatt-hours a year from just above 100GWh.
The company is now working with its local partners to bring its first projects to fruition, with lifetime extension and repowering work across all three sites due for completion between 2024 and 2026.
It added that as the projects move off the state feed-in tariff, long-term power purchase agreements are being negotiated with leading European utilities as off-takers to stabilise future revenues.
NeXtWind chief investment officer Lars Meyer said: “We’re off to a flying start as we progress towards our strategic goal of acquiring, rejuvenating and operating a 1GW portfolio of clean energy assets.
“Ownership of these ageing project sites, particularly in Germany, is highly fragmented, so strong local market relationships are essential for sourcing and successfully executing investment opportunities.
“During these first acquisitions, our origination team has successfully closed not only with established onshore wind development businesses, but also with an array of private investors demonstrating our differentiated ability to source off-market deals.
“We’ll continue to draw on these relationships as we take the projects through permitting and development, PPA negotiations, and into long-term operation.”