Leeward Renewable Energy LLC, a renewable energy company, says its Mountain Breeze Wind Farm in Weld County, Colo., has reached commercial operation and that the company has closed the funding under its tax equity financing for the project.
Leeward procured the wind turbine equipment from GE Renewable Energy. Citi provided tax equity financing of $162.9 million. Mountain Breeze sells its output to Xcel Energy Colorado under a long-term power purchase agreement.
Mountain Breeze is comprised of 62 GE Renewable Energy onshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 171 MW. Leeward designed and constructed the greenfield project from the ground up and will own and operate the wind farm for the long-term. Mountain Breeze received unanimous approval of the project from the Weld County board of county commissioners in June 2019.
“Our team has been developing the Mountain Breeze project since 2016,” says Jason Allen, CEO of Leeward Renewable Energy. “We are pleased to have reached commercial operation to provide clean, renewable energy to Leeward’s long-time customer, Xcel Energy, and are grateful to GE and Citi for their continued partnership and investment in clean energy.”
The project created approximately 300 jobs during peak construction and increased its contribution to Weld County in the form of property tax payments.
Photo: Mountain Breeze Wind Farm
