US: SunEdison Closes $390 Million of Financing for 300 Megawatt Wind Farm in Texas

The wind farm is expected to generate approximately 1,200 gigawatt-hours of energy each year, enough to power more than 90,000 Texas homes and avoid the emission of 2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide.

"The South Plains II wind power facility will have a positive economic impact for the people of Texas," said Paul Gaynor, SunEdison's executive vice president of Americas and EMEA. "This is expected to become one of SunEdison's largest wind projects, creating about 300 construction jobs and ensuring that thousands of Texans have access to clean, cost-effective electricity."

Citi provided the construction loan facilities for the project and BHE Renewables, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, in partnership with Citi, will invest in the tax equity.

"Our company has been a leader in wind project development and ownership," said Tom Budler, president of BHE Wind, a division of BHE Renewables. "As we look for new ways to be involved in developing renewable generation, we see tremendous opportunity to move the industry forward through investment in the tax equity market."

The project is being built by Mortenson Construction, one of the nation's top wind farm builders; and the wind turbines are being supplied by Vestas.

"We are delighted to be partnering with SunEdison on this wind farm and contributing to the growth of the renewable energy industry in Texas," said Tim Maag, Mortenson's Wind Energy Group vice president and general manager.

Hewlett-Packard plans to purchase 112 megawatts of the wind farm's capacity to power 100 percent of its Texas-based data centers as part of the company's sustainable cloud initiative. The remaining 188 MW capacity will be sold to an affiliate of Citi.

Construction is targeted for completion in 2016. The wind farm is on the Call Right Projects List for TerraForm Power, Inc. (Nasdaq: TERP), a global owner and operator of clean energy power plants. TerraForm Power anticipates  acquiring the project once complete. Operation and maintenance of the wind power plants will be performed by SunEdison Services, which provides global asset management, monitoring and reporting services.