Allianz buys wind farms as part of renewables investment

German insurer Allianz has bought two recently completed wind farms in France from Nordex SE.

The Croquettes and Longchamp projects have a combined generating capacity of 22 megawatts, enough to cover the needs of around 11,000 households.

Allianz has also purchased a wind farm from WKN AG in the German state of Lower Saxony which has a capacity of 16 megawatts and will satisfy the electricity demands of around 9,000 households, according to the firm.

"We are pleased to be able to add these three wind parks to our portfolio," said David Jones, CEO of Allianz Specialised Investments, which manages the Allianz Renewable Energy Partners' funds.

"Germany and France are important markets for us, and we expect to further expand in these and other key European markets.

"We are expecting the demand for wind and solar power to continue to grow in the future, and we expect to continue to expand our investment in this growing sector."

Renewables have represented part of Allianz's investment strategy since 2005. Last year, its investments in wind and solar power exceeded the €1bn mark. This volume was increased in the past 12 months by nearly 25%.

With the new acquisitions, Allianz now has over €1.3bn invested in renewable energy operations.

The company owns 34 wind farms with a total capacity of 658 megawatts, and seven solar parks with a total capacity of 74 megawatts, generating sufficient electricity for over 350,000 European households.