U.S. wind power developer First Wind announced that it has obtained $98 million in financing for its 60-megawatts (MW) Rollins Wind project in Penobscot County, Maine.
First Wind closed an $81 million non-recourse construction loan and a $17 million letter of credit facility for the Rollins project. Key Bank National Association (KeyBank) and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (Nord/LB) served as the joint lead arrangers for the financing. In addition to the financing, JPM Capital Corporation has executed a tax equity financing agreement with a subsidiary of First Wind. When the project goes into commercial operation, JPM Capital will provide long-term capital to take out the construction loan.
Since the end of September, First Wind has raised $357 million in financing and repaid $118 million in short-term turbine supply loans. Financings include the funds for the Rollins project, $247 million for the 68-turbine expansion of its Milford, Utah project, and $12 million for its Steel Winds facility in Lackawanna, NY.
In November, First Wind halted plans for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq, when shares did not price as high as the company hoped they would.
During construction, the Rollins Wind project will create about 200 wind jobs. Four local communities near the project (Lincoln, Lee, Burlington and Winn) are slated to receive on average, an estimated combined tax payment of $785,000-a-year for the next 30 years–more than $24 million in total.
The project is expected to be online and operating sometime in the early fall of 2011.
First Wind’s Rollins project received approval from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on April 21, 2009. On August 6, 2009, the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) unanimously voted in support of the DEP permit. On October 7, 2009, the Maine Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a 20-year long-term contract to supply the renewable energy generated from the Rollins Wind project to Maine consumers. Opponents of the project have filed numerous appeals of permits, but the project has been approved at every level, including the Maine Supreme Court.
With 125 MW of capacity in Maine, First Wind owns and operates three projects in the state, including the 42 MW Mars Hill Wind project in the Town of Mars Hill along with the 57 MW Stetson Wind and the 26 MW Stetson Wind II projects, both located in Washington County near the town of Danforth. First Wind also has several projects in various stages of development throughout Maine and New England.
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