The Kansai Electric Power (Kansai), through its subsidiary KPIC US, has agreed to acquire 48.5% interest in Aviator Wind, owned by funds managed by Ares Management Corporation’s Infrastructure and Power strategy.
Under the agreement, Kansai is entitled to get a 48.5% indirect ownership stake in Aviator Wind, the project company based in the State of Texas, US.
The onshore wind project is located in central Texas, approximately 550km northwest of Houston.
Featuring 191 wind turbines, the wind farm will have a total of approximately 525MW power output.
Aviator is Kansai’s first renewable energy and onshore wind farm project in the US
Once the commercial operation is started, which is expected in August 2020, the wind project is anticipated to become the largest single-phase wind project in ERCOT and the largest single-phase, single-site wind project in the US, said the company.
Aviator marks the first US renewable energy and onshore wind farm project for Kansai, and the fifth overseas wind power project the company has been involved in till date.
The first four projects include the Evalair onshore project in Ireland, Triton Knoll and Moray East offshore projects in the UK, and Piiparinmäki in Finland.
Kansai stated: “The global megatrend of decarbonization has been encouraging the installation of renewable energy infrastructure in North America.
“Kansai is committed to making our share of contribution to decarbonization through further development of renewable projects in the US and other parts of the world.”
The acquisition of stake of Aviator project is expected to expand the net capacity of Kansai’s renewable power generation projects overseas to 949MW.
