Enel Green Power to spend $60 mln to raise Buffalo Dunes stake

Reuters
A worker inspects solar panels at Enel's power plant in Montalto di Castro, central italy, April 27, 2011. REUTERS/Max Rossi

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest green energy company Enel Green Power said on Monday it had agreed to pay $60 million to take its stake in U.S. wind farm Buffalo Dunes to 75 percent. In a statement Enel Green Power, which is controlled by Italy's biggest utility Enel, said its North America unit had signed an agreement with GE Capital to buy a further 26 percent stake in the company that runs the U.S. wind farm. "The full consolidation of the Buffalo Dunes wind farm will take EGP's installed capacity in North America to about 2 gigawatts," CEO Francesco Starace said. GE Capital will keep a 25 percent stake in Buffalo Dunes. Enel Green Power is shifting its focus of attention away from its core markets in Italy and Spain to emerging markets and North America to take advantage of better resources and regulatory frameworks. (Reporting by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Isla Binnie)