wind farm in La Salle County, Illinois, about 80 miles southwest of Chicago. The facility is currently under construction and is an expansion of Invenergy’s Grand Ridge wind farm that went into operations in October 2008.
The construction debt facility and term facility were underwritten by Bayerische Hypo-Und Vereinsbank AG, a unit of UniCredit Group, and Dexia Credit Local.
The Grand Ridge expansion will interconnect with ComEd and will sell its output under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Appalachian Power Company, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (“AEP”). The Grand Ridge expansion will be powered with 67 General Electric 1.5 MW SLE wind turbines.
Construction of Grand Ridge expansion is being managed by Gemma Renewable Power, LLC (“Gemma Renewables”). Gemma Renewables is a joint venture between Invenergy and Gemma Power Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Argan, Inc. Full commercial operation of the facility is scheduled for the third quarter of 2009. The wind farm will be owned and operated by Invenergy.
Officials with LaSalle County, with Brookfield, Allen, Grand Rapids and Otter Creek Townships and with Exelon Corporation all provided key support to this project.
Invenergy and its affiliates are focused on the development, ownership, operation and management of large-scale wind sites and other clean energy generation assets in the North American and European markets.
The Invenergy companies have approximately 2,000 MW of wind power projects and 2,200 MW of natural gas-fired generating projects in operation.
“One of the top five largest owners of wind generation assets in the United States.” – American Wind Energy Association 2008 Annual Wind Industry Report
Founded in 2001, Invenergy LLC is a leading clean energy company focused on the development, ownership, operation and management of large-scale electricity generation assets in North America and Europe. Invenergy’s home office is located in Chicago. It has regional development offices in Austin; Denver; Minneapolis; Portland; San Diego; San Francisco; Washington D.C.; Toronto, Canada; Aberdeen, Scotland; and Warsaw, Poland.
Invenergy is the largest independent wind developer in the United States. Eighteen wind generating facilities, representing an aggregate generation capacity of nearly 2,000 MW, have been developed by Invenergy and are now operating in North America and Europe. Another 400 MW of Invenergy projects are currently under construction and nearly 100 projects are in active development in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Invenergy’s focus is on the development and long-term ownership and operation of utility scale wind projects ranging in size from 25 to 500 MW. With a long-term perspective, Invenergy Wind takes a proactive approach to building strong relationships with various project stakeholders including landowners, host communities and power purchase customers.
To date, Invenergy has:
*Completed development and construction of 18 wind energy facilities, with approximately 2,000 megawatts (MW) of aggregate generating capacity;
*Completed development and construction of five natural gas-fueled power facilities, with approximately 2,200 MW of aggregate generating capacity;
*Initiated additional renewable and clean power projects (wind, natural gas and solar) that will be placed in service starting in 2009, capable of generating in aggregate close to 20,000 MW;
*Created hundreds of new development, construction and operations jobs; and
*Actively supported the formation of national and global renewable and clean energy policies.
