Deere considers sale of $1 billion breeze portfolio

BOSTON Thu Feb 25, 2010 11:50am EST Related News Enel green unit adds 60 MW wind parks in ItalyTue, Feb 9 2010Is clean tech China"s moon shot?Thu, Jan 28 2010

BOSTON (Reuters) - Deere Co has retained Goldman Sachs Group Inc to help review options for its $1 billion wind energy portfolio, including a possible sale, the U.S. agricultural equipment maker said on Thursday.

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The world"s largest maker of tractors and harvesters said it owns 34 wind farms in seven U.S. states that are capable of generating 706 megawatts of power, in addition to owning some wind farms that are still in development.

The Moline, Illinois-based company"s wind energy arm is an outgrowth of its credit business, which also helps farmers and other customers to finance purchases of Deere equipment.

While the turbines can tower hundreds of feet above the ground, they have a relatively small footprint, which has encouraged some small-scale U.S. farmers to allow turbines to be installed on their land as an additional source of income.

At the end of 2009, the United States had about 35,000 megawatts of installed wind capacity, enough to power 9.7 million typical American homes, according to data from the American Wind Energy Association.

Other major investors in U.S. wind farms include Florida utility FPL Group Inc and conglomerate General Electric Co.

(Reporting by Scott Malone, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

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Nigerian boss returning from Saudi: sources

ABUJA Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:48pm EST

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Umaru Yar"Adua was being flown back to the capital Abuja on Tuesday, three months after he left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, Nigerian government sources and a Saudi airport official said.

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"The president left at 10:22 p.m. (1922 GMT) alone in a plane and another plane carried Nigerian government envoys," the official at Jeddah airport told Reuters.

There was no word on the state of his health.

Nigerian government and presidency officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Soldiers and armed police arrived at the presidential wing of the airport in Abuja, a Reuters witness.

The 58-year-old leader left Nigeria in late November to receive medical treatment at a clinic in Jeddah for pericarditis, an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart that can restrict normal beating.

His absence brought Africa"s most populous nation to the brink of constitutional crisis and threatened to paralyze the business of government, until Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as acting leader two weeks ago.

Neither the presidency, the ruling party nor the cabinet has given any details on his health since shortly after he left, fuelling speculation about his true condition.

A delegation of Nigerian ministers travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday for an update on his health and had been expected to report back to a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

(For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com/ )

(Reporting by Nick Tattersall and Felix Onuah in Abuja, Asma Alsharif in Jeddah)

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