 | 2/27/2012 | Expanding Its Texas Footprint, GE Unit Joins JP Morgan To Jointly Invest $225 Million In NextEra Energy Resources’ 662.5-Mw Wind Farm |
Expanding its renewable energy portfolio in Texas, GE unit (NYSE: GE) GE Energy Financial Services has joined JP Morgan to jointly invest $225 million in a partnership that owns the 662.5-megawatt Capricorn Ridge wind farm in West Texas. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC remains the majority owner and operator of the project. Additional financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. NextEra Energy Resources is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE).
The Capricorn Ridge wind farm has been in operation since 2007 and employs 342 of GE Energy’s 1.5-megawatt machines, the world’s most widely deployed wind turbine, and 65 of Siemens’ 2.3-megawatt machines. The project is located in Sterling and Coke counties in one of Texas’ Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) – resource rich, high-wind areas in West Texas and the Texas Panhandle that will increasingly supply renewable energy to major population centers in eastern Texas via new transmission projects. The Capricorn Ridge project is capable of generating enough electricity to power more than 220,000 homes while avoiding more than 952,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year – equivalent to taking approximately 186,000 cars off the road – according to US Environmental Protection Agency methodology.
“This investment demonstrates our ability to provide both the capital and equipment for critical energy infrastructure projects in support of GE’s broader ecomagination strategy,” said Kevin Walsh, managing director and leader of power and renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services. “We were uniquely suited to invest in this project alongside JP Morgan because of our Texas wind market expertise.”
Including Capricorn Ridge, GE Energy Financial Services has invested in 2,143 megawatts of wind farms in Texas – approximately 20 percent of the installed wind capacity in the state. This transaction represents the GE unit’s second major investment with NextEra Energy Resources and expands GE’s broader relationship with NextEra Energy, which has been a GE customer for the past several decades. NextEra Energy Resources has installed over 3,200 of GE’s 1.5-1.6-megawatt wind turbines, or approximately 5,000 megawatts, in the United States since 2002.
“We are very pleased to have raised capital through this differential partnership transaction on one of the nation’s largest wind energy centers,” said Moray Dewhurst, vice chairman and chief financial officer of NextEra Energy, Inc. “We are equally pleased to have expanded our relationships with GE and JP Morgan.”
GE Energy Financial Services’ wind investing supports GE’s broader ecomagination strategy to create value for customers by solving energy, efficiency and water challenges.
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| 1/8/2010 | NextEra Energy Resources First Renewable Energy Company to Offer Verified Emission Reductions |
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. and North America’s leading generator of wind power, today announced that it has expanded its product offering through the creation of U.S. wind carbon offset credits – verified emission reductions (VERs). NextEra Energy Resources is the first wind developer, owner and operator to create and offer this type of
carbon offset credit.
The VERs will be sourced from NextEra Energy’s Capricorn Ridge Wind Energy Center located in West Texas. The Capricorn Ridge Wind Energy Center is the first wind project in the U.S. to create VERs under the Voluntary Carbon Standard protocol. The Capricorn Ridge project reduces greenhouse gas emissions by displacing fossil-fueled power plants that emit carbon dioxide. It is estimated that the project will generate approximately 212,000 metric tons of offset credits per year beginning in 2010.
“We’re pleased to be the first in the industry to offer verified emission reductions,” said Mark Maisto, president, Commodities and Retail Markets for NextEra Energy Resources. “These new carbon offset credits give our customers a new tool to help them in meeting their sustainability goals.”
First Environment, voted in 2009 as the Best Verification Company in North American Mandatory Markets for greenhouse gas emissions, validates and verifies the carbon offset credits.
NextEra Energy Resources plans to sell the VERs from the Capricorn Ridge project into the voluntary carbon credit market.
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