Scout Clean Energy LLC, a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, has closed construction financing and tax equity commitments on the 300 MW Ranchero Wind Farm, located in Crockett County, Texas.
The project secured a 10-year proxy revenue swap (PRS) with Allianz Global & Specialty Inc.’s alternative risk transfer unit in partnership with Nephila Climate. REsurety, which provided risk analytics supporting the PRS transaction, will serve as the calculation agent on an ongoing basis. Construction financing, including letters of credit, is being provided by KeyBank. GE Energy Financial Services underwrote and committed a portion of the tax equity.
The Ranchero project, expected to be operational by year-end, has been developed from inception by the Scout team. The wind farm will comprise 120 GE 2.5 MW turbines with 127-meter rotors.
Scout has entered into a fixed-price balance-of-plant construction agreement with RES Americas. Construction management will be be undertaken by Harvest Energy Services, a Scout affiliate.
“It is especially pleasing to have closed a major new financing and commenced construction of the first project to be developed from scratch by the Scout team,” comments David Scaysbrook, co-founder and managing partner of Quinbrook. “Ranchero has the potential to be a significant new wind project for the Texas power market and enjoys a strong wind resource.”
Jeff Hunter, senior managing director of Quinbrook, adds, “This year, we expect to close and commence construction on several additional wind projects in the Scout portfolio, which are located across a diverse spectrum of U.S. power markets.”
Together, Quinbrook and Scout have expanded their utility-scale U.S. wind portfolio to over 2.3 GW of potential renewable power capacity, spanning 13 projects in 10 states.
Quinbrook and Scout were advised by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Paragon Energy Advisors on the latest transaction.
