Berkshire Hathaway Unit To Acquire 2 California Wind Projects

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A, BRK-B) will get just a shade greener as its MidAmerican Wind unit announced Sunday its agreement to buy two wind-energy projects in Tehachapi, Calif.

Selling the 168-megawatt Alta Wind VII and the 132-megawatt Alta Wind IX projects is California Highwind Power, a unit of Terra-Gen Power LLC.

At completion, the projects will encompass 100 Vestas V90 3-megawatt wind turbines, MidAmerican Wind said in a statement. The company did not disclose the purchase price.

Meanwhile, Southern California Edison, a unit of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), will purchase electricity from each of the projects pursuant to the terms of power purchase agreements that extend to 2035, MidAmerican Wind said. Each project also will be tied into SCE’s Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project.

“The two projects, which are part of the largest wind farm in the country, make an excellent addition to our growing portfolio of renewable energy assets as we continue to evaluate and acquire wind projects,” said MidAmerican Wind President Tom Budler.

The completion of the projects will bring the total capacity of this wind farm – known as the Alta Wind Energy Center -- to 1,320 megawatts. About 1,020 megawatts are currently being produced there.

Based in Des Moines, Iowa, MidAmerican Wind is a unit of MidAmerican Renewables, which is a subsidiary of the MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., which is a division of Berkshire Hathaway.

MidAmerican Energy is the No. 1 rate-regulated utility owner of wind-powered generation capacity in the U.S., and, via MidAmerican Wind, it is growing its unregulated wind portfolio. Since the company began building wind-energy projects in 2004, it has either acquired or constructed more than 3,300 megawatts of wind-generation capacity.