US Energy Secretary Steven Chu will provide a partial guarantee for a $1.3bn loan to support Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project, an 845MW wind-powered electricity-generating facility located in the state of Oregon.
“This project is part of the Administration’s commitment to doubling our renewable energy generation by 2012, while putting Americans to work in communities across the country,” Chu said.
The loan would be funded by a group of institutional investors and commercial banks led by Citi, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, RBS Securities and WestLB Securities.
The Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project consists of 338 wind turbines, supplied by GE, which are designed to provide high efficiency and increased reliability, maintainability and grid integration.
The project is expected to sell 100% of the power generated to Southern California Edison through a 20-year fixed price power purchase agreements.
So far, the Department of Energy, through the Loan Programs Office, has issued $15.9bn in loan guarantees to support 15 clean energy projects.
