Alterra Power Corp. and its partner Starwood Energy Group Global have closed a US$287 million construction loan facility for the 204-megawatt Shannon wind project at Clay County, Texas.
Thefacility was provided by affiliates of Citi, Santander Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada, and consists of a US$212 million loan plus US$75 million in various letters of credit. The loan is supported by a US$219 million tax equity investment commitment supplied by subsidiaries of Citi and Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
The project is currently being constructed by Mortenson Construction’s Wind Energy Group. The project is expected to begin commercial operations in late 2015 or early 2016. General Electric Co. is supplying 119 sets of 1.71MW wind turbines for the project, and will provide operations and maintenance services for the turbines under a long-term contract.
The project will sell the majority of its power under a 13-year contract with Citigroup Energy Inc. Investment affiliates of Alterra and Starwood Energy own the project in a 50/50 partnership.
“We’re pleased to complete the Shannon financing on commercially favourable terms with world-class partners,” said John Carson, CEO at Alterra. “The Shannon project will provide sufficient clean power to meet the needs of more than 60,000 households, and cash flows from the project will enable the further extension of Alterra’s renewable power platform.”
“We have been very active in the wind sector and are pleased to have made this investment,” added Himanshu Saxena, Managing Director of Starwood Energy. “This is an excellent example of our value-add approach of partnering with developers in building large infrastructure projects.”