Dutch pension giant backs massive $1bn Mexican wind farm project

Dutch pension fund management firm PGGM has partnered with Mitsubishi Corporation and the Macquarie Mexican Infrastructure Fund on a $1bn (€750m), 396MW Mexican onshore wind farm project.
They are investing in the Mareña Renovables project in Oaxaca in southern Mexico, Latin America’s largest wind farm.
PGGM’s Infrastructure Fund is taking a 33.75% stake on “behalf of institutional clients”. PGGM, which has €115bn in assets under management, is the fund manager owned by the giant care and welfare pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW).
The new project follows the completion earlier this month of the PGGM-backed 367MW Walney offshore wind farm off the British coast.
“We are pleased with this new direct investment in renewable energy, which is entirely in line with the ESG [environmental, social and governance] criteria in investment of our institutional clients,” said Henk Huizing, Head of Infrastructure at PGGM.“Long-term purchase contracts provide stable inflation-linked cash flows that are an excellent match to the requirements of our customers.”
The Mareña project involves the installation of 132 Vestas Wind Systems turbines across several tens of kilometers of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and is expected to be completed by July 2013.
The power generated will be provided to beverage firms Fomento Económico Mexicano SA (FEMSA) and Heineken – with 20-year power purchase agreements in place.

“Stable inflation-linked cash flows”

“Oaxaca State is the best place to set up a wind farm as strong wind from Gulf of Mexico runs through the region on its way out to Pacific at a speed of 8.5m per second which is equivalent to offshore winds,” Mitsubishi said. It is said to be one of the windiest regions in the world. Link (Dutch)