GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric (GE), is providing a $50m (€36.2m) senior secured term loan to Rockland Capital to support its acquisition of a natural gas-fired power plant in Illinois.
Rockland Capital has purchased the gas-fired Elgin Energy Center which is located on a 27-acre site 40 miles north-west of Chicago, as part of a larger acquisition this year.
The amount will be used in part to finance the 484MW Elgin acquisition and pay related fees and expenses.
The power plant began its operations in 2002 with four simple-cycle natural gas-fired turbines and sold its capacity into the PJM market.
Operations and maintenance for the plant are rendered by ProEnergy Services, while the additional energy management services are provided by Tenaska Power Services.
GE Energy Financial Services managing director and debt origination leader Carl Peterson said, "The Elgin investment marks our first opportunity to serve Rockland Capital as a lead lender, and underscores GE’s ability to lead both contracted and merchant power transactions."
Rockland Capital partner Shane Litts said, "We partner with key industry players like GE to free up capital for other projects and focus on asset optimization."
GE financial unit holds equity and debt investments in power projects with a total capacity of 30GW.
The unit offers flexible financial structures ranging from common and preferred equity to debt and acquisition finance.
The company’s recent power lead arranging transactions include the Saguaro power plant in Nevada and Nelson Energy Center in Illinois.
Image: GE offers $50m loan for Elgin power plant. Photo: courtesy of GE.
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