Combining more than 100 years’ experience in energy, green finance, and M&A across its senior team, NeXtWind recently launched its strategy to become Europe’s next major green independent power producer (IPP).
Backed by established sustainable investors including Crestline Investors, Ferd, and ARB Investment Partners, the company will initially seek to acquire and rejuvenate older, most likely teenage, wind parks in Germany.
Working with local communities and partners to bring new life, higher performance, and shared benefit to existing sites, NeXtWind’s strategic goal is to acquire and transform a portfolio in excess of 1GW of end-of-regulatory-life European assets.
“The older wind sites tend to have the best locations but the worst efficiencies,” said Ewald Woste, NeXtWind CEO. “We’ve assembled the expertise and funding to ensure that these sites are not lost to a diminishing baseline of clean power. Indeed, with smart investment and management, we expect to double the average wind harvest from these pioneering parks. With Germany phasing out coal and nuclear generation, this is important work.”
“The energy transition must keep moving forward and an increasingly important ingredient to that will be the rejuvenation of Europe’s early green energy parks,” said Lars Meyer, Chief Investment Officer at NeXtWind. “In Germany alone, we estimate that some 15 GW of teenage onshore wind capacity will soon need to navigate today’s market complexities and determine a proactive plan for a future that looks very different to the present. It’s an extremely fragmented market in need of consolidation, modernization, and significant investment.”
With an active M&A pipeline already in place, NeXtWind was expected to complete the acquisition of its first sites soon. Acquired sites will either be repowered or undergo lifetime extension works. The company is negotiating framework agreements with some of Europe’s largest utilities in order to facilitate the signature of future Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
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