News & Events
Marathon Capital has Advised Vitol on Sale of Three Wind Farms to Exus
May 15, 2024
May 15, 2024
Utility Scale Clean Power
Mergers and Acquisitions
Marathon Capital is pleased to announce it has advised Vitol Green Holdings (“Vitol”) on the sale of its operating wind farm portfolio in Pennsylvania (“the Portfolio”) to Exus Management Partners (“Exus”). The Portfolio includes Highland North, Twin Ridges, and Patton wind farms, totaling 244 MW. Vitol acquired the Portfolio from BlackRock in 2022 with the intent to repower the wind farms, which are set to be repowered from 2024-2027. Marathon Capital and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC co-advised on the transaction.
The Portfolio represents a unique opportunity for Exus to increase its exposure to the attractive wind markets in PJM. With improved annual production estimates from repowering, the Portfolio are well-positioned to capitalize on PJM’s increasing load forecasts, with 2034 winter peak load forecasted to reach 165 GW (30 GW higher than the previous forecast).1 The projects benefit from attractive offtake with investment-grade counterparties in a market where wind-weighted offtake holds a ~7% price premium over solar.2 In addition, the Portfolio’s 214 MW of repower capacity represents ~27% of the incremental wind installed capacity in PJM during 2023 as new construction in the territory has continued to be a challenge with queue congestion and reform.3 Vitol will also be providing tax equity financing for the repowering effort, minimizing financing risk.
“Vitol continues to play a significant role as a leader in the energy transition as exemplified by this marquee wind transaction. The deal also aligns with efforts by Exus to evolve from an asset manager to a leading independent power producer.” – Ari Pribadi, Marathon Capital
1. 2024 Preliminary PJM Load Forecast, 27 November 2023
2. LevelTen Energy PPA Price Index, Q1 2024
3. BNEF US Clean Energy Market Outlook, 2H 2023
