$1.3 Billion DOE Loan to Fund Wind Farm

WASHINGTON — A partial loan guarantee for a $1.3 billion loan has been finalized to support the world’s largest wind farm, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced.
 
The loan will finance the Caithness Shepherds Flat project, an 845-megawatt wind-generation facility located in eastern Oregon sponsored by Caithness Energy, LLC and GE Energy Financial Services, according to the DOE.
 
The Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project will use grid integration and 338 GE 2.5xl wind turbines designed to provide high efficiency and increased reliability – the first in North America to deploy these turbines. Power and renewable energy credits generated at the wind farm will be sold to Southern California Edison under 20-year fixed price power-purchase agreements.
 
The wind farm project is the sixth Recovery Act-supported project to close and the largest to date to receive a loan guarantee under the Financial Institution Partnership Program.
 
Funding for the loan comes from 26 institutional investors and commercial banks, including Citi, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., RBS Securities and WestLB Securities, Inc.
 
"Renewable energy investments like these are creating jobs while helping to maintain America’s global competitiveness in the clean energy economy," Chu says. "By leveraging our nation’s vast natural resources, we can help provide alternative sources of energy and stimulate economic growth and job creation."
 
The DOE also supported two of the world’s largest solar thermal projects and a 2,200 megawatt nuclear power plant, the nation’s first in three decades.
 
Chu also announced a $1.45 billion loan guarantee for Abengoa Solar Inc.’s Solana project, the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant, according to reports
 
The 250-megawatt project is located near Gila Bend, Ariz., and is reportedly the first large-scale solar plant in the United States capable of storing energy it generates.
 
Solana will produce enough energy to serve 70,000 households and will avoid the emissions of 475,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year compared to a natural gas burning power plant, according to the Department of Energy.
 
A mirror manufacturing facility will be built outside of Phoenix to meet the project’s need for more than 900,000 mirrors, which the company expects will lead to additional direct investment in Arizona’s economy.
 
70 percent of the supplies will be provided by U.S. manufacturers, including mirrors, receiver tubes, and the heat transfer fluid.
 
Electricity from the project will be sold through a long-term power purchase agreement with Arizona Public Service Company, according to the DOE.
 
The Department of Energy has issued loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees to support 16 clean energy projects totaling nearly $16.5 billion, resulting in 37 million megawatt-hours of capacity – enough clean energy to power over 3.3 million homes.
 

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$1.3 Billion DOE Loan to Fund Wind Farm
 
WASHINGTON – A partial loan guarantee for a $1.3 billion loan has been finalized to support the world’s largest wind farm, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced.
The loan will finance the Caithness Shepherds Flat project, an 845-megawatt wind-generation facility located in eastern Oregon sponsored by Caithness Energy, LLC and GE Energy Financial Services, according to the DOE.
 
The Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project will use grid integration and 338 GE 2.5xl wind turbines designed to provide high efficiency and increased reliability – the first in North America to deploy these turbines. Power and renewable energy credits generated at the wind farm will be sold to Southern California Edison under 20-year fixed price power-purchase agreements.
 
The wind farm project is the sixth Recovery Act-supported project to close and the largest to date to receive a loan guarantee under the Financial Institution Partnership Program.
 
Funding for the loan comes from 26 institutional investors and commercial banks, including Citi, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., RBS Securities and WestLB Securities, Inc.
 
"Renewable energy investments like these are creating jobs while helping to maintain America’s global competitiveness in the clean energy economy," Chu says. "By leveraging our nation’s vast natural resources, we can help provide alternative sources of energy and stimulate economic growth and job creation."
 
The DOE also supported two of the world’s largest solar thermal projects and a 2,200 megawatt nuclear power plant, the nation’s first in three decades.
 
Chu also announced a $1.45 billion loan guarantee for Abengoa Solar Inc.’s Solana project, the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant, according to reports
 
The 250-megawatt project is located near Gila Bend, Ariz., and is reportedly the first large-scale solar plant in the United States capable of storing energy it generates.
 
Solana will produce enough energy to serve 70,000 households and will avoid the emissions of 475,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year compared to a natural gas burning power plant, according to the Department of Energy.
 
A mirror manufacturing facility will be built outside of Phoenix to meet the project’s need for more than 900,000 mirrors, which the company expects will lead to additional direct investment in Arizona’s economy.
 
70 percent of the supplies will be provided by U.S. manufacturers, including mirrors, receiver tubes, and the heat transfer fluid.
 
Electricity from the project will be sold through a long-term power purchase agreement with Arizona Public Service Company, according to the DOE.
 
The Department of Energy has issued loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees to support 16 clean energy projects totaling nearly $16.5 billion, resulting in 37 million megawatt-hours of capacity – enough clean energy to power over 3.3 million homes.