Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group plans to invest $118 million to increase its stake in three Midwest wind farms.
The investment will take WEC Energy from an 80% to a 90% ownership interest in the Blooming Grove Wind Farm in McLean County, Illinois, the Thunderhead Wind Energy Center and the Upstream Wind Energy Center, both of which are in Nebraska.
The increased stake will add 75 megawatts of capacity to WEC’s ownership. All three projects have long-term offtake agreements with affiliates of investment grade multinational companies.
“This agreement marks another step forward for the energy infrastructure segment of our five-year capital plan,” said Gale Klappa, executive chairman of WEC Energy Group. “The plan calls for deploying $1.8 billion in high-quality projects that will serve strong, vibrant companies for years to come.”
The Blooming Grove and Thunderhead projects are expected to begin commercial operation at the end of the year, while the Upstream Wind project began service in January 2019.