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5 ways developers and advisors use Vind AI for M&A

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Pauline Øien
September 29, 2026
Head of Development
Project developer
Screening and site selection
Wind farm layout with yield and financial results overlaid in Vind AI, used to assess an acquisition target

Wind and solar assets change hands constantly, and the pressure to move fast on a deal is only growing. Here's how developers and advisors are using Vind AI to screen, verify, and value acquisition opportunities, from the first look at a target to the final number in a deal memo.

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M&A has become one of the busiest parts of the renewable energy business. Portfolios are built as much through acquisition as through greenfield development, and the market backing that shift hasn't slowed down: even as buyers get more selective about which projects they'll back, deal activity across Europe's wind, solar, and storage markets has stayed active through 2026. The teams doing that work are under real-time pressure: more targets to look at, tighter windows to respond in, and less room to take a seller's numbers at face value. While every deal is different, a few clear patterns have emerged in how developers and advisors use Vind AI when it comes to M&A.

1. The sniff test: deciding fast if a target is worth a closer look

Before committing real diligence time and budget, teams need a fast way to tell whether a target is worth pursuing at all. Advisors and developers use Vind AI to run an initial technical and financial pass on a potential acquisition in hours rather than days, checking the numbers against what's needed to hit return targets before deciding whether the opportunity is worth escalating further.

2. Checking the numbers a seller gives you

Acquisition data rarely arrives in a form you can trust outright. A layout might come through as a PDF with no coordinates, or production figures with the underlying assumptions left out. Rather than taking a seller's figures on trust, teams re-run the yield assessment, layout, and wake loss analysis independently in Vind AI, so the number that goes into an offer is one they've verified themselves. It's a shift the wider market is making too: analysts describe the 2026 European deal environment as moving away from pipeline optimism and toward proof-based transactions, where buyers want evidence behind a number before it goes into an offer.

3. Getting from screening to the M&A team faster

With most developers, the workflow follows the same shape: a technical or development team screens a project first, and only once it clears an initial bar does it move to M&A, finance, and legal for deeper work. That handoff is often where deals lose time, with the commercial side waiting on a smaller screening team to turn around a preliminary layout and yield figures. With one connected platform instead of a chain of separate tools, that first pass can move through to the M&A team without the usual wait.

4. Testing the upside: hybridisation and repowering

Not every acquisition thesis is about the asset exactly as it stands. For ageing sites, or land with existing grid access already secured, developers use Vind AI to model hybridisation and repowering potential or the addition of solar and battery storage alongside the existing turbines. That means a bid can reflect what the asset could become under a new owner, not only what already exists.

5. One yardstick across a multi-market pipeline

When acquisition targets span several countries or several sellers, it matters that every target gets evaluated the same way. Running the technical and financial pass on each opportunity through one platform keeps the numbers comparable, whatever site or market they came from, so decisions between targets come down to the projects themselves rather than differences in how each one was assessed.

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Whether the job is deciding if a target deserves a second look, checking whether a seller's numbers hold up, or getting a number to the M&A team before someone else does, the thread running through all five is the same: one connected platform means the technical and financial view of a deal is never more than a few clicks away.

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Frequently asked questions

Can Vind AI be used for M&A due diligence on wind and solar projects?
Yes. Developers and advisors use Vind AI's yield assessment, layout optimisation and financial analysis to screen acquisition targets and form an independent view before committing to full due diligence. The same connected workflow used for greenfield development applies to projects under consideration for acquisition, so teams can assess a target from a technical and financial perspective in one place.
How quickly can I screen an acquisition target in Vind AI?
An initial technical and financial pass on a target can be completed in hours rather than days. That gives teams a fast, evidence-based answer on whether an opportunity is worth escalating before diligence time and budget are committed.
Can I verify a seller's yield figures independently?
Yes. Teams re-run the layout, wake loss analysis and yield assessment in Vind AI using built-in wind datasets such as ERA5, CERRA and NORA3, or add specialist higher-resolution data where needed. Every result is traceable back to its inputs, so it's clear where each number comes from and how it compares with the seller's figures.
Can Vind AI assess the repowering or hybridisation potential of an asset?
Yes. You can set up repowering options, such as different turbine sizes and counts, alongside the existing layout as scenarios, or model the addition of solar and battery storage within the site's existing grid capacity. Comparing technical and financial performance side by side, including NPV, helps a bid reflect what the asset could become under new ownership.
How do I compare acquisition targets across different markets?
Running every target through the same platform keeps assumptions, turbine data and financial inputs consistent, so results are comparable wherever the site is. The Portfolio view shows key metrics like LCoE and CAPEX/MWh across all projects, which makes it easier to rank targets on the strength of the projects themselves.
How can non-technical members of the M&A team access the results?
Commercial, finance and legal teams can review results directly in Vind AI through the Portfolio view, or receive export-ready PDF reports summarising the latest production analysis for any park. That shortens the handoff between screening and the deal team.
Does Vind AI replace technical advisors in the M&A process?
No. Vind AI gives in-house teams a fast, independent view of a target early on, so external advisors can focus on the targets that have already cleared an initial bar and on the detailed work where their expertise matters most.

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