Goldman Sachs announced Monday that it has acquired one of the United States’ largest independent wind energy companies for an undisclosed sum, adding to recent consolidation in the cleantech sector.
The investment bank expects to close the deal with Houston–based Zilkha Renewable Energy in the second quarter, pending regulatory approvals.
Zilkha has a portfolio of nearly 4,000 megawatts in different stages of development. The company was set up after the father and son team who own it sold their oil and gas exploration business in 1998 to Sonat for $1 billion. Goldman Sachs will acquire the company’s entire interests in the 200-megawatt Flat Rock Wind Power Project in Lewis County, New York, and in the 150-megawatt Blue Canyon Phase II Project in
Oklahoma by the end of the year.The young cleantech sector includes all types of resource use-limiting technologies. Experts see the deal as an example of further consolidation in the space.
Ron Pernick, co-founder and principal of Clean Edge, said that the announcement builds on FPL Energy’s majority interest of solar power company Carlyle Riverstone last month, and General Electric’s 2004 purchase of solar firm AstroPower. General Electric already has a sizeable wind division.
General ElectricMr. Pernick said of the major players’ involvement, “I don’t believe they are acquiring these to shutter them. They are acquiring them to grow them.”
A recent report by industry monitor Cleantech Venture Network showed that 2004 investments in the sector grew 3.4 percent on 2003 and 11.4 percent from 2002.