MidAmerican Energy completes wind farms

Brings total capacity to nearly 3,500 megawatts

Feb 3, 2016 at 2:01 pm | Print View

MidAmerican Energy on Wednesday said it has completed two major wind energy installations in Iowa, adding more than 1,200 megawatts of electric generation.

The Highland wind farm in O’Brien County, which began providing electricity on Dec. 3, 2015, is the fifth and final piece of MidAmerican Energy’s Wind VIII project — the Des Moines utility’s largest wind energy project to date.

On Jan. 30, MidAmerican completed its Wind IX project when the Adams wind farm in Adams County began providing electricity.

The two wind energy projects bring MidAmerican’s total generation from the renewable energy source to almost 3,500 megawatts, an amount that represents about 42 percent of the company’s installed generation capacity.

In a news release, Mike Gehringer, MidAmerican vice president, renewable energy, said completion of the two projects marks a major milestone for the company, which owns and operates more wind turbines than any utility in the nation.

“Slightly more than 10 years ago, MidAmerican Energy did not own any wind energy generation,” Gehringer said. “Today, wind makes up the largest share of our generation portfolio. We project that by 2017, we will generate an amount equal to 57 percent of our total retail load.”

MidAmerican plans to begin construction in the spring on the Ida Grove and O’Brien wind farms, which will add up to 552 megawatts of wind generation capacity to the existing fleet. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

Plans call for approximately 134 turbines and up to 301 megawatts of generation capacity at the Ida Grove wind farm, and approximately 104 turbines and 250 megawatts of additional generation capacity at the new O’Brien wind farm.

Over the next 30 years, MidAmerican estimates that the company’s wind projects will generate more than $1.5 billion in lease payments to landowners and property tax payments to schools, cities and counties.

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MidAmerican Energy completes wind farms

Canadian Solar Completes Sale of Two Utility Solar Power Plants to Renewable Energy Trust Capital

Canadian Solar Completes Sale of Two Utility Solar Power Plants to Renewable Energy Trust Capital

Visit http://www.canadiansolar.com for further information

“We are pleased with the sale of these two plants to Renewable Energy Trust Capital, and we look forward to closing the sale of the third plant in early 2015,”

Submitted on 12/29/14, 03:29 PM

GUELPH, Ontario, Canada, December 29, 2014 – Canadian Solar Inc. (the “Company”, or “Canadian Solar”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world’s largest solar power companies, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., completed the sale of two 10 MW AC solar power plants, DiscoveryLight and FotoLight, to Renewable Energy Trust Ontario Holdings, INC/ULC (RET Capital), at a valuation comparable to other recent project sales completed by Canadian Solar on a per megawatt basis in the Ontario market. These two plants utilize Canadian Solar’s CS6X-305P modules, and are part of a sales agreement whereby Canadian Solar will sell a total of three utility-scale solar power plants from its Ontario pipeline to RET Capital, for a total of 40.9 MW DC.

DiscoveryLight is located in the town of Beaverton, while FotoLight is located in the Township of Prince Edward County. The electricity generated by these two power plants, both currently in commercial operation, will be sold to Hydro One under a 20-year Ontario Power Authority feed-in-tariff contract.

Canadian Solar provided turnkey engineering, procurement and construction services, and will also provide operations and maintenance services. A third 10 MW AC power plant (“CityLights”) is scheduled to begin commercial operation in the first quarter of 2015 with closing occurring post commercial operation.

“We are pleased with the sale of these two plants to Renewable Energy Trust Capital, and we look forward to closing the sale of the third plant in early 2015,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. “This transaction underscores the successful execution of our business plan in Ontario, as well as our proven track record as a leading project developer on a global scale.”

“The good work we have done with our friends at Canadian Solar means we will be able to bring clean and cost-effective energy to Ontario households for years to come,” said John A. Bohn, chief executive officer and chairman of RET Capital. “We are pleased to announce this 40.9 MW DC deal and look forward to identifying and engaging similarly strategic opportunities in the new year.”

About Canadian Solar Inc.
Founded in 2001 in Ontario, Canada, Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar has an industry leading and geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale solar power projects as well as a track record of successful solar deployment boasting over 7 GW of premium quality modules installed in over 70 countries during the past decade. Canadian Solar is committed to providing high-quality solar products and solar energy solutions to customers around the world. For more information about our company, products and projects please visit www.canadiansolar.com.

About Renewable Energy Trust
RET (Renewable Energy Trust) Capital is a privately held company that makes sponsor equity investments in solar PV power generation facilities. RET Capital works closely with its Asset Partners- project developers, EPC providers, IPPs, and utilities- to acquire projects with long-term contracted cash flows. The RET team endeavours to help our Asset Partners meet their objectives through innovative structuring and design of portfolio acquisition and joint ownership opportunities. For more information, please visit www.renewabletrust.com.

Canadian Solar Completes Sale of Two Utility Solar Power Plants to Renewable Energy Trust Capital