EDP to buy $2.2 bln U.S. Horizon Wind Energy

By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese power provider Energias de Portugal (EDP) has agreed to buy U.S. wind-farm company Horizon Energy from Goldman Sachs, valuing Horizon's equity at $2.15 billion, boosting its renewable energy business.

EDP, Portugal's largest industrial company, said the acquisition would give it a foothold in the United States, as concerns about global warming increases demand for wind, wave and solar power as alternatives to fossil fuels.

Horizon has developed wind farms in New York, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Washington and Oklahoma and has projects under construction in Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and Illinois.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs bought Horizon, then a privately held company known as Zilkha Renewables, in 2005 for an undisclosed sum.

As a result of the deal, EDP hopes to generate more than half its electricity from renewable energy by the end of the decade.

"This acquisition raises the weight of 'clean energy' in EDP's portfolio," EDP Chief Executive Antonio Mexia said.

The United States is responsible for one-quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions and uses one-quarter of the world's crude oil. President George W. Bush has called on Americans to cut their gasoline use by 20 percent over a decade.

Houston, Texas-based Horizon has 559 gross megawatts of operating wind projects and another 997 MW under construction due to be completed by the end of this year.