Corporate/Finance | Renewbl.com

Category: Corporate/Finance

Acciona's Eurus wind farm gets USD 375 million loan from ten entities

June 11th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Acciona's Eurus wind farm project in Mexico has reached an important milestone, with the company having obtained financing for the project through a USD 375 million loan guaranteed by ten separate entities. This will be the single largest loan facility for a renewable energy project in Latin America.

The Eurus wind farm will have 250.5 MW of installed capacity, representing the largest wind project ever built by Acciona, and will be the biggest wind energy facility in Latin America. It is located in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Power produced at the wind farm will be exported to Cemex' cement plants, and will cover about 25% of the energy needs for the factories.

The financial agreements for the loan were signed with global and regional entities, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (IDB) and Corporación Financiera Andina (CAF). Other signatories include Spanish, French, German and Mexican banks and companies.

[source: Acciona]

Iberdrola Renovables boosting its global position with EUR 9 billion over next three years

June 10th, 2010 | Posted in General Wind

Iberdrola Renovables announced plans to invest EUR 9 billion over the next three years in order to boost its global leadership position and expand international operations, focusing on profitable markets worldwide. Most of the company's growth is to come mainly from the US market, where the company will be investing EUR 4.9 billion, while other investments include EUR 1.9 billion in the UK, EUR 1 billion in Spain, and the remaining EUR 1.2 billion for investments in other parts of the world.

Iberdrola Renovables wants to accumulate about 16 GW of installed capacity by 2012, projecting a 15-20% earnings rise rate in this period. Investment and expansion efforts are going to happen in these key areas of the company's operations:

United States: the company wants to expand operations and increase installed capacity in eastern and south-eastern states.
Offshore wind: the company has a formidanle pipeline of projects in Europe – one of which is the Round 3 development in the UK, the 7.2 GW offshore wind farm off the east coast of England.
R&D&i: the company is going to be making further commitments towards researching new technologies and improving operating efficiency. One of the major projects will be renewables integration into power grids, improving tidal, biomass and marine energy operations.
Financial strength: maintaining financial foundations, improving efficiency, adapting investments to the economic environment, reducing the cost per MW installed.
Sustainability: a sustainable growth plan, which will create value for all the stakeholders.

[source: Iberdrola]

DONG Energy gets loan from EIB for London Array wind energy project

June 10th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

DONG Energy signed a loan contract with the European Investment Bank, under which the EIB is to provide EUR 250 million as a loan facility to the company for the purpose of financing of deliveries by Siemens Wind Power and Per Aarsleff. The loan represents a part of the total financing needed for the realization of the London Array project.

The first phase of London Array will have 630 MW of capacity, and is expected to come on line in 2012, and provide power for the 2012 Olympics to be held in the UK. Once completed, the London Array will be the world's largest offshore wind farm. The project is owned by DONG Energy, Masdar and E.ON.

[source: DONG Energy]

ITOCHU and GE in agreement over renewable energy investment and collaboration

June 4th, 2010 | Posted in General Wind

ITOCHU Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) and General Electric have entered into a collaboration and cooperation agreement to explore worldwide renewable energy investment opportunities. Under this agreement, GE Financial Services, ITOCHU International and Tyr Energy (hodling company of ITOCHU), are in discussions over co-investing in wind power, particularly the Keenan II wind power project (in Oklahoma, with 152 MW capacity), and another wind energy project, also in the US.

ITOCHU and GE have a history of collaboration, mostly through Tyr Energy.

[source: ITOCHU]

Alstom opening wind turbine assembly facility in Texas

May 26th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Alstom has announced plans to open a new wind turbine assembly facility in Amarillo, Texas. The new facility will be assembling nacelles and control systems. The assembled nacelles will then be transported to wind farm sites where, along with blades, towers, and other necessary equipment, the parts will be assembled on site.

The company will be producing nacelles for two models – the ECO 80/86 and ECO 100/110 wind turbines, both of which are planned to get certification in 2011, through collaboration with NIRE and NREL, as announced here. The turbines will feature the company's PURE TORQUE technology, which offers unique rotor support, resulting in better gearbox performance and more efficient power generation.

[source: Alstom]

AMSC and Sinovel enter expand strategic partnership

May 26th, 2010 | Posted in General Wind

American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) and Sinovel Wind Group (China) have expanded their strategic partnership to include additional wind turbine designs for onshore and offshore wind energy markets. The two companies design and jointly develop a new range of advanced technology, multi-megawatt class wind turbines, which will be marketed and sold worldwide by Sinovel.

Sinovel currently offers two wind turbine models to the market – the SL1500 (1.5 MW) and the newer SL3000 (3 MW) units. A 5 MW unit has also recently been developed as a joint effort between Sinovel and AMSC Windtec. At the moment Sinovel is the largest wind turbine producer in China, and has been "promoted" to be the third largest producer in the world. The company is aiming for further growth in the coming years.

[source: AMSC]

Alstom enters solar market with investment in BrightSource Energy

May 22nd, 2010 | Posted in Solar

Alstom is investing up to $55 million in BrightSource Energy, in a move that effectively makes the French company as one of the main shareholders. As a result, Alstom hopes to complement its strong portfolio in renewables and to enter the high-growth solar energy market.

This operation takes place as part of a capital increase of $150 million organised by BrightSource, which is a privately-owned company specialized in designing, building and operating tower based solar thermal power plants.

BrightSource has contracts for a total of 2,600 MW with PG&E and Southern California Edison – California's two largest utilities.

[source: Alstom]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries files antitrust suit against GE

May 21st, 2010 | Posted in General

GE is facing an antitrust lawsuit charging the company with a scheme to monopolize the market for variable speed wind turbines in the United States. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) filed the lawsuit seeking damages to be estimated during the litigation process. It is expected the amount is going to be in the scale of hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even more than a billion dollars.

MHI claims GE entered an unlawfull anticompetitive activity, after having established a foothold in the US market in 2006, with the goal to drive Mitsubishi's suppliers out of the US market. This lawsuit was filed to the U.S. District Court's Western District of Arkansas.

Another lawsuit has also been filed to the United States District Court's Middle District of Florida, also against GE, charging the company with deliberately infringing a key Mitsubishi patent for variable speed wind turbines. According to the allegation, GE has been making, using, selling and offering to sell infringing turbines without having obtained authorization to do so from MHI. Furthermore, MHI claims GE has been using the lawsuit as a marketing tool pressuring Mitsubishi's customers to either purchase license agreements from GE, or face infringment risks.

National Wind gets financing for 13 projects from Deutsche Bank

May 21st, 2010 | Posted in General

National Wind has successfully closed a senior secured financing facility through the Deutsche Bank. It is also anticipated the Deutsche Bank will help National Wind finance 13 new projects, that could result in 4 GW of active power generation capacity development.

National Wind uses a community-based model for financing energy projects, and with this financial facility the company hopes the model will spread more broadly across the US. National Wind's projects are currently in various development stages in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Texas and Ohio.

[source: National Wind]

Iberdrola to invest USD 1.13 billion in Brazil between 2010 and 2012

May 21st, 2010 | Posted in General Hydro

Iberdrola has reaffirmed its plans to invest USD 1.13 billion in Brazil in the period from 2010-2012. The company plans to invest in mainly in expansion of hydroelectric capacity, but also in improvements for the electricity distribution infrastructure.

So far, Iberdrola has invested about USD 3.6 billion in Brazil, ever since the 1990s when the company first entered the Brazilian energy market. The new investment plans should result in an additional 710 MW of hydropower capacity by 2013.