Scout Clean Energy, a Colorado-based renewable energy developer, owner and operator, has completed construction and received tax equity funds for the 300 MW Ranchero Wind Farm in West Texas.
Located in Crockett County, the utility-scale project, now operating commercially, will use 120 GE 2.5 MW wind turbines with 127-meter rotors.
Scout started construction on Ranchero in January of this year. The company also recently began construction on its 180 MW Heart of Texas wind farm in McCullough County.
“Ranchero is our first greenfield project developed from inception through construction and operations since our launch as an owner-operator,” says Michael Rucker, CEO and founder of Scout. “Reaching commercial operations at Ranchero brings Scout’s owned portfolio of wind energy generation in operation and under construction to over 800 MW.”
RES constructed the project under a balance-of-plant contract, with Scout managing and supervising the overall construction process. During peak construction, there were as many as 200 workers. As the owner-operator, Scout’s asset management team will handle day-to-day commercial operations of the wind farm.
It is estimated that Crockett County, the local hospital and the independent school district are set to receive $57 million in tax revenue over the life of the project.
“Ranchero is the first project that has been developed from inception to operation entirely by the Scout team,” adds Rucker. “Working with Quinbrook and RES, our teams were able to complete construction in 10 months. This is a testament to the great work our Scout team has done with our partners and the local community to get to this point.”
Scout secured a proxy revenue swap with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s Alternative Risk Transfer unit in partnership with Nephila Climate. REsurety provided the risk analytics supporting the long-term proxy revenue swap transaction. Construction financing of $430 million (including letters of credit) was provided by KeyBank, CoBank-ACB, Rabobank, CIBC, Santander and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. KeyBank served as the lead arranger. GE Energy Financial Services underwrote and funded a portion of the tax equity.
Photo: David Benbennick [Public domain]
Good thing I ate my huevos rancheros this morning, took me a while to scout out the cheese