NRG Energy has entered the offshore wind energy business with its acquisition of Hoboken-based Bluewater Wind from Babcock & Brown and Arcadia Windpower. The move, according to NRG, based at 211 Carnegie Center, taps the utility into Bluewater’s pipeline of offshore wind parks in the Northeast. The deal was in cash, for an undisclosed sum.
NRG CEO David Crane called offshore windpower “the highest potential renewable resource” for the eastern seaboard, and acknowledged that getting Bluewater’s portfolio could be a lucrative move.
Bluewater has at least seven offshore projects in the Northeast, including projects in Delaware and New Jersey in advanced stages of development. This, said Crane, gives NRG a valuable leg-up in advanced windpower research.
Crane has long advocated cleaner energy, even deriding the very industry that has made him a successful businessman.
He has vehemently petitioned the energy industry to adopt and explore cleaner-burning and renewable sources of energy.
The deal with Bluewater sharply increases NRG’s chances of leading the way toward a broader adoption of clean energy technologies, according to Crane.
Bluewater’s projects include a 25-year, 200 megawatt power purchase agreement with Delmarva Power & Light Company that has been approved by the Delaware Public Service Commission and other state agencies.
In New Jersey the company is one of three developers awarded a $4 million rebate from the state to build a meteorological tower to collect wind data for offshore projects, NRG stated.
Bluewater also has several other offshore wind energy projects in the works along the northeastern seaboard.
Bluewater’s development team will become NRG employees, working out of Bluewater’s office in Hoboken. The company’s president and founder, Peter Mandelstam, will remain president of Bluewater Wind and also serve as head of NRG’s offshore wind development efforts, NRG stated.
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG), 211 Carnegie Center, Princeton 08540-6213; 609-524-4500; fax, 609-524-4501. David Crane, president and CEO. www.nrgenergy.com.
