Boralex buying 32 MW wind farm in France’s Indre region for $55 million

Wind energy in France: Boralex to spend $55-million on wind farm. Boralex Inc. is to spend about $55- million to acquire a wind power project in France. The 32-megawatt wind farm is located in France’s Indre region and consists of 16 Gamesa’s wind turbines.

The wind energy project includes 16 wind turbines each with a capacity of 2 MW of power that will be sold to France’s electrical grid under a 15-year term contract. The deal will increase Boralex installed wind power capacity in France to 193 MW when the project, which is slated to be commissioned in the third quarter of 2013, is complete.

The acquisition is subject to financing and standard closing conditions. Analyst Pierre Lacroix of Desjardins Capital Markets said the deal was "positive" and should generate five to 10 cents per share in cash flow in its first full year of operation in 2014.

"We continue to like the company’s longer term growth story, although the shares remain undervalued in the power infrastructure space due to their lack of yield," he wrote in a report. Boralex is a developer of renewable energy with an installed capacity of nearly 500 MW in Canada, the Northeastern United States and France.

Wind power in France

1997: 10 MW
1998: 21 MW (+110 %)
1999: 25 MW (+19.1 %)
2000: 68 MW (+172 %)
2001: 95 MW (+39.8 %)
2002: 148 MW (+55.8 %)
2003: 248 MW (+67.6 %)
2004: 386 MW (+55.7 %)
2005: 757 MW (+96.2 %)
2006: 1,567 MW (+107.1 %)
2007: 2,455 MW (+56.7 %)
2008: 3,404 MW (+38.7 %)
2009: 4,492 MW (+32 %)
2010: 5,970 MW (+33 %)
2011: 6,684 MW (+12 %)

By José Santamarta, www.boralex.com/