Scout Clean Energy LLC, a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, has closed construction financing and tax equity commitments on the 180 MW Heart of Texas Wind Farm, located in McCulloch County, Texas.
The central Texas wind project, expected to be operational by April 2020, has been developed through the final stages of permitting, equipment procurement, off-take negotiation, and both debt and tax equity financing by the Scout and Quinbrook teams.
Heart of Texas will use 64 GE 2 MW wind turbines. Scout has entered into a fixed-price balance-of-plant construction agreement with RES Americas. Scout will undertake construction management and certain operational services post-completion.
The project has secured a proxy generation swap (PGS) with Allianz Global & Specialty Inc.’s Alternative Risk Transfer unit in partnership with Nephila Climate. REsurety provided risk analytics supporting the PGS transaction. Construction financing of $255 million, including letters of credit, is being provided by a lender consortium that includes KeyBank, Rabo Bank and Co-Bank. GE Energy Financial Services led the underwriting of tax equity financing.
“Heart of Texas is Scout’s third successful wind project closing in under two years, which is quite an achievement,” comments David Scaysbrook, co-founder and managing partner of Quinbrook.
Together, Quinbrook and Scout have rapidly expanded their U.S. utility-scale wind project portfolio to over 2.4 GW of potential renewable power capacity, spanning 13 projects in 10 states.
Quinbrook and Scout were advised by McDermott Williams and Emory LLP, Holland and Hart, and Paragon Energy Advisors.
