Wind power developer First Wind announced a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) and construction financing for the 102-megawatts (MW) expansion of its Utah-based Milford Wind project.
Phase II includes installation of 68 additional 1.5 MW GE turbines and construction began in July.
The cities of Los Angeles and Glendale have agreed to purchase the power produced by the wind farm expansion.Los Angeles, Burbank and Pasadena are already purchasing power from Phase I.
In addition to the PPA, First Wind secured financing for the
project. RBS Securities Inc. was lead arranger and bookrunner for this
loan. The following banks acted as joint lead arrangers for the
financing: Banco Espirito Santo S.A. New York Branch, Santander
Investment Securities Inc., CoBank, ACB, and SG Americas Securities,
LLC.
RMT, which led the construction for the Milford I project and is
currently building First Wind’s Kahuku project in Oahu, Hawaii and the
Sheffield Wind project in Vermont, is again leading construction
activities for the Milford II project.
The construction will be a source of revenue and wind jobs to the surrounding area. For example, the 204 MW Milford I project, which went online in November 2009, supported more than 300 development and construction jobs, and First Wind directly spent about $30 million with Utah-based businesses developing and building the first phase of the project and another $50 million in statewide spending on items such as wages, taxes and more.
Based in Boston, First Wind has wind projects in the Northeast, the West and in Hawaii, with the capacity to generate up to 504 MW of power and projects under construction with the capacity to generate up to an additional 232 MW.
Earlier this month, First Wind pulled plans for an initial public offering just hours before the company's stock was due to begin trading on the Nasdaq
