ArcLight set up a new company, SkyVest Renewables, to buy and run operating wind and solar farms in North America. Its purchase of Jumbo Hill, a 160 MW wind farm in West Texas, came from ENGIE. The parties did not disclose a price. Enerdatics records one, and it sits near the top of what US wind farms sold for in 2024.
Key takeaways
- SkyVest Renewables, a company formed by ArcLight to operate and optimise acquired assets, announced on 29 July 2024 that it had acquired the 160 MW Jumbo Hill wind farm in Andrews County, Texas, from ENGIE.
- The parties did not disclose a price for Jumbo Hill, but Enerdatics records the transaction at $236 million, or about $1.48 million per MW.
- The Jumbo Hill wind farm entered construction in April 2019 and reached commercial operation in April 2020, and sells its power and renewable energy credits to a corporate customer under a virtual PPA.
- ENGIE also entered into a proxy revenue swap for part of Jumbo Hill's output with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty's weather risk team, working with Nephila Climate.
- Among eight priced sales of operating US onshore wind farms that Enerdatics records for 2024, Jumbo Hill ranks second on price per MW and first among the four in ERCOT.
Who is SkyVest and why start with Jumbo Hill?
SkyVest is ArcLight's vehicle for owning operating renewables. ArcLight formed it to run and optimise assets it acquires, and the two will target operating utility-scale wind and solar in North America. Jumbo Hill is the only SkyVest acquisition Enerdatics records.
A new platform's early deals set its tone, and Jumbo Hill is a clean one. It is a single site of meaningful size. It has been running for about four years. Its output is already sold under a virtual PPA. And it comes with a hedge on part of its revenue. A buyer whose stated plan is to operate and optimise gets a working asset with fewer moving parts than a portfolio or a development project would bring.
The project's history is short and well documented. Infinity Power Holdings developed it. ENGIE acquired Infinity in 2018 and completed construction, which began in April 2019. The farm reached commercial operation in April 2020.
How is Jumbo Hill's revenue protected?
Through two layers. The first is a virtual PPA with a corporate customer. A virtual PPA is a financial contract rather than a physical delivery: the wind farm sells its power into the market, and the buyer and seller settle the difference between the market price and an agreed contract price. The corporate buyer also receives the renewable energy credits, the certificates that let it claim the green attributes of the power.
The second layer is a proxy revenue swap. ENGIE entered into one for a portion of the output with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty's weather risk team, working with Nephila Climate. A proxy revenue swap is a hedge in which the project exchanges a revenue figure calculated from a proxy of its likely output and market prices for a fixed payment. It protects the owner against a weak wind year as well as low power prices.
Together, those two layers turn a West Texas wind farm exposed to the ERCOT market into something closer to a contracted asset. That is the kind of profile infrastructure buyers pay up for, and it helps explain where the price lands.
Enerdatics records eight sales of operating US onshore wind farms announced in 2024 that carry a disclosed or estimated value. On a price per MW basis, with ITOCHU's 50 percent purchase of Grandview grossed up to the whole farm, they rank as follows. Turlock Irrigation District's 136.6 MW Tuolumne project sold to Clearway Energy at about $1.54 million per MW. Jumbo Hill follows at about $1.48 million. Duke Energy's 202 MW Mesteno farm, sold to InfraRed Capital Partners, priced at about $1.35 million. Grandview comes to about $1.03 million on a whole-farm basis. AES Indiana's purchase of the 106 MW Hoosier project from EDF priced at about $0.88 million, and Exus' 306 MW Pennsylvania portfolio at about $0.85 million. Acciona paid about $0.68 million per MW for the 300 MW Green Pastures farm, and MARA about $0.44 million for the 114 MW Great Plains farm. The median of the eight is about $0.96 million per MW. Jumbo Hill sits roughly 54 percent above it.
Why does Jumbo Hill price above its Texas peers?
Age and contract cover are the likely reasons. Jumbo Hill was just over four years old at sale. The two cheaper farms that Enerdatics has examined in detail were older: Grandview was nearly ten years old, and the Exus portfolio averaged around 13 years and was bought with repowering already in view. An older wind farm has fewer years left on its original turbines and often less time left on its offtake contract, and buyers price that in.
Within ERCOT, the spread is wide. Four of the eight priced sales were in the Texas market. Jumbo Hill tops them, ahead of Mesteno at about $1.35 million per MW, Grandview at about $1.03 million and Green Pastures at about $0.68 million. The top of that range is more than twice the bottom. In a market where wind farms sell power into a volatile wholesale price, the contracts and hedges wrapped around an asset do much of the work in setting its value.
One caveat applies. The parties did not disclose the Jumbo Hill price, and the $236 million figure is the value Enerdatics records for the deal. It should be read as Enerdatics' figure rather than a number confirmed by ArcLight or ENGIE.
What does the deal signal for US wind M&A?
It signals continued appetite for young, contracted wind farms from infrastructure capital, even as prices across the wider market spread out. The eight priced 2024 sales range from about $0.44 million to about $1.54 million per MW. Jumbo Hill, near the top, combines recent construction with contracted and hedged revenue. The Exus portfolio, near the bottom, was older and bought with repowering in mind.
It also signals a model for new platforms. Rather than build a development team, a sponsor can form an operating company, buy a single well-hedged asset, and grow from there. For sellers like ENGIE, a buyer of that kind offers a clean exit from individual operating assets at a price that reflects the contracts already in place.
The question for SkyVest is what comes after Jumbo Hill. A platform built on assets priced near the top of the market needs either more deals at similar quality or operating improvements that justify the premium.
Frequently asked questions
Who bought the Jumbo Hill wind farm? SkyVest Renewables, a company formed by ArcLight to operate and optimise acquired assets, bought the 160 MW Jumbo Hill wind farm in Andrews County, Texas, from ENGIE.
How much did SkyVest pay for Jumbo Hill? The parties did not disclose a price. Enerdatics records the transaction at $236 million, or about $1.48 million per MW.
How does Jumbo Hill sell its power? Jumbo Hill sells its power and renewable energy credits to a corporate customer under a virtual PPA. ENGIE also hedged part of the output with a proxy revenue swap arranged with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and Nephila Climate.
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