General Electric and UnionBancal Corporation will each own 50 percent of the 150-megawatt Alta Wind I wind project, the first operational phase of the 3,000-MW Alta Wind Energy Center in Kern County, California. G.E. Energy Financial Services, a unit of G.E. (NYSE:GE), and Bankers Commercial Corporation, a unit of UnionBancal, will lease the wind farm back to Terra-Gen Power L.L.C., Alta Wind’s developer, operator and manager.
Terra-Gen, in return, will use funds from the sale to pay off construction loans it signed up for last March. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This transaction, our first using a lease for a wind farm, demonstrates our ability to tailor structures to meet our customers’ needs, in this case enabling Terra-Gen to free up cash while enabling it to continue to operate and manage the project,” said Kevin Walsh, managing director and leader of power and renewable energy at G.E. Energy Financial Services.
The Alta Wind Center , one of the largest wind projects in the United States is expected to generate enough power to meet the electricity demands of 1.3 million households and offset more than 52 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next decade – equivalent to removing 890,000 cars off the road.
The wind project will also generate over 3,000 jobs, which will stimulate the local economy with more than $1.2 billion.
Alta Wind I is the first wind facility to connect with Southern California Edison’s Tehachapi renewable transmission project, which is the first major transmission project designed specifically to access a renewable-rich resource area.
Southern California Edison will also purchase energy generated from the first 1,550 MW of the wind energy center, which includes the first operational phase, under a power purchase agreement signed in 2006.
The Alta Wind Energy Center is a candidate for a United States treasury grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which enables renewable energy projects to obtain a cash grant in place of tax credits.
