GE Energy Financial Services (EFS) has announced it is investing $141 million in Spanish wind developer Acciona's Tatanka Wind Farm on the North Dakota-South Dakota border. The transaction represents the GE unit's first wind equity investment in the Dakotas and the first wind farm in the U.S. built entirely by Acciona.
GE EFS invested with Wachovia Investment Holdings LLC to provide structured equity for the 180 MW wind farm, which spans 14,000 acres of farmland in Dickey, McIntosh and McPherson counties in North and South Dakota.
‘Acciona's Tatanka Wind Farm is representative of yet another step in harnessing the abundant wind energy reserves available in America's rural Midwest,’ says Peter Duprey, CEO of Acciona Energy North America, which owns and operates the project. ‘This land and its pioneering population, long known for providing crops and livestock to feed a country, now meet an urgent and monumental American need – energy independence.’
The $381 million project, which went into commercial operation last month, uses 120 wind turbines, with 59 turbines located in South Dakota and 61 turbines in North Dakota. The electricity generated at the Tatanka Wind Farm is sold into the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator.
SOURCE: GE Energy Financial Services
