Taaleri SolarWind II Fund Invests in 336 MW Wind Farm in Texas

The Taaleri SolarWind II fund has, together with AIP, Ilmarinen, and Akuo Energy acquired 93 percent of the equity in the 336 MW Escalade wind farm in Texas

The Taaleri SolarWind II fund has, together with AIP, Ilmarinen, and Akuo Energy acquired 93 percent of the equity in the Escalade wind farm in Texas. Taaleri Energia, the project developer, will retain a minority stake in the project. The wind farm is located in Knox County, around 300 km west of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

The project will consist of 45 Vestas V162 5.6 MW turbines and 20 Vestas V150 4.2 MW turbines and represents a USD 450 million-plus investment in the North American renewable power sector. The construction work is scheduled to begin during Q2 2020 with the wind farm reaching operational status in Q4 2021. The wind farm’s annual production of electricity will be approximately 1270 GWh. It will produce enough electricity to supply around 115,000 households and will offset the equivalent of 604,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide during each year of operation.

“We are extremely happy with the first investment in the US from the Taaleri SolarWind II fund. The onshore wind resource in Texas is excellent and the location of our wind farm, with connections to the large population centres, is also ideal. The ERCOT market for electricity in Texas is very similar in structure and operation to the Nord Pool electricity market in the Nordic countries, a market that we are very familiar with. The fact that we have developed this project in-house and succeeded in bringing on board such high caliber partners, co-investors and financers is a testament to the strength of our development, engineering and investment capabilities”, said Taaleri Energia’s Managing Director, Kai Rintala.

The project has been developed in-house by Taaleri Energia since 2018, following an acquisition from its development partners NorthRenew Energy and Chermac Energy. The Balance of Plant contractor is Mortenson Construction and Akuo Energy is the Construction Manager as well as the Technical and Commercial Manager for the project. Vestas will provide Operations & Maintenance Services for the project under a 30-year contract.

Tax equity for the investment will be provided by BHE Renewables (a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy) and construction financing by NORD/LB, Mizuho, Santander and Societe Generale. The substantial majority of the power produced by the wind farm will be contracted under a 10-year Proxy Revenue Swap with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE’s Capital Solutions unit in collaboration with Nephila Climate.  REsurety Inc. provided risk analytics supporting the transaction.

 “Onshore wind in Texas presents its very specific peculiarities which we managed with innovative solutions. This transaction marks the beginning of a partnership with Taaleri and Akuo Energy. Two highly reputable players in the sector. We are pleased to have partnered with them and we are looking forward to continuing and developing our strong partnership going forward”, adds Domenico Tripodi, Partner at AIP.