Ørsted has acquired Lincoln Land Wind, a 302 MW onshore wind farm in Morgan County, Ill., from funds managed by Ares Management Corp.’s Infrastructure and Power strategy.
Ares purchased the project from developer and construction manager Apex Clean Energy.
“I’m delighted that we’re acquiring Lincoln Land Wind and that we continue to expand our footprint in the U.S.,” says Vishal Kapadia, senior vice president and chief commercial officer in Ørsted Onshore. “This transaction represents the continued successful execution of our strategy of complementing our robust organic growth with opportunistic acquisitions in attractive new markets. The project is of significant scale and benefits from PPAs with Meta and McDonald’s, and we’re excited to be able to support both companies in their decarbonization journeys.”
“We’re pleased to have reached this agreement with Ørsted, and we believe this demonstrates the continued benefit of a value-add strategy in North American renewable energy,” states Keith Derman, partner and co-head of Ares Infrastructure and Power. We’re proud to have worked with Apex, Meta, McDonald’s and Morgan County to support their sustainability objectives and bring jobs to the local community.”
Meta and McDonald’s have both signed long-term fixed-price PPAs to purchase approximately 175 MW and 126 MW, respectively, of output from Lincoln Land Wind.
“At Meta, we’re committed to not only supporting our operations with 100 percent renewable energy, but to helping accelerate the transition to renewable energy,” comments Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. She continues: “With our new data center being built in DeKalb in Illinois, we’re excited to help bring new renewable energy to the Illinois grid.”
“As a Chicago resident, McDonald’s is incredibly excited to be a part of a project in Southern Illinois and help generate renewable energy close to home,” adds Emma Cox, global renewable energy lead at McDonald’s. “This project represents another important step towards our ambitious climate action goals and brings to life our values around supporting the communities we serve.”
The PPAs with McDonald’s and Meta were entered into in 2020 and are effective as of COD.
