Partners Group leads investor consortium in 400MW German offshore wind farm development Freitag, 12. August 2016 - 09:00

Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, will invest over EUR 250 million in the construction of Merkur Offshore ("Merkur"), an approximately 400MW offshore wind farm in Germany, on behalf of its clients. Partners Group is the largest shareholder in a consortium of investors, which includes contractor-related entities DEME Concessions Wind, a member of the DEME Group, and GE Energy Financial Services, a GE (NYSE: GE) unit, as well as global infrastructure investment manager InfraRed Capital Partners and L'Agence de l'environnement et de la maîtrise de l'énergie (ADEME), acting in the name and on behalf of the French State.

Merkur is a construction-ready wind farm, which will be comprised of 66 GE Haliade 150-6 MW turbines and located within the German exclusive economic zone off the North Sea coast. The project has secured grid connectivity and foundations will start to be installed in mid-2017, with completion scheduled for March 2019. Once constructed, Merkur will benefit from the German offshore feed-in-tariff.

Brandon Prater, Partner and Co-Head Private Infrastructure, Partners Group, states: "With several coal-fired and nuclear power plants due to be retired across Germany by 2020, Merkur is a timely project and will contribute towards maintaining the country's energy supply, while catering to the long-term shift towards renewables in the power generation mix. On this project we have strong and experienced equipment and engineering partners, as well as equity partners, and look forward to working with them to successfully complete Merkur."

Esther Peiner, Senior Vice President, Private Infrastructure Europe, Partners Group, adds: "Merkur is a highly attractive, large-scale, European renewable energy project in a very stable market and regulatory environment. At Partners Group, we have highlighted renewable energy as one of our principle areas of investment focus globally in the current market environment. Merkur is a great fit with this strategy and is highly complementary to other recent renewables investments in our overall portfolio."

Partners Group is an experienced investor in wind energy projects globally on behalf of its clients. Since 2011, Partners Group has invested in onshore projects in Europe, Asia and Australia totaling over 600MW. Most recently, in June 2015, Partners Group invested in the construction of Ararat Wind Farm, a 240MW project located near Melbourne, Australia.

Partners Group is also an active investor in solar energy globally on behalf of its clients, with investments in projects totaling over 770MW in current solar generating capacity and an additional 1,200MW under construction. Most recently, in July 2016, Partners Group invested over USD 200 million as the controlling shareholder in a 550MW Taiwanese solar power development.