The projects larger, 100 MW and up, projects, which a number of other wind energy companies are planning, have proven problematic because of the restrictions on current electrical transmission capacity throughout the power grid. We believe Crownbutte’s strategy of smaller, diversified projects scattered throughout the grid is more realistic and practical.
Transmission access and grid capacity are key to wind farm project development in today’s marketplace. Crownbutte’s strategy incorporates both transmission access and merchant market off-take. Three out of five of the wind farms in our portfolio are currently approved for transmission interconnection or have been in the transmission interconnection queue for some time.
CBWP has one facility ready for construction, and two wind farms more have been fast tracked through the interconnection queue and will be ready for construction by year end or sooner, as the final permitting and facility studies have been completed.
Management believes these factors add value to the company’s portfolio of locations. The Company forecasts revenues of these three projects together will be nearly $12,000,000 per year. Transmission access has become the major factor in attracting project financing for wind parks; all of our locations are based around spots with available power transmission capacity.
Crownbutte is currently reviewing a number of financing alternatives and negotiating with a number of potential financing partners for our Gascoyne I, Elgin, and Wibaux projects. We believe our strategy to get three wind parks under construction by the end of 2010 is realistic, and our efforts to secure $120,000,000 in project financing are well under way.
Crownbutte’s pipeline of future projects scheduled for 2011 and beyond continues to be developed from initial stages of land acquisition. Currently, we have over 40,000 acres of land controlled in prime locations for wind in North Dakota and Montana, and we have several years of meteorological wind speed data gathered from our proprietary meteorological towers on each project site.
It has taken many years to develop this pipeline, because individual projects have been timed to ensure that their development is completed and that projects will become queued for transmission interconnection at the same time planned future improvements to the national power grid are completed.
Crownbutte intends to provide updates as the financing negotiations continue and terms are agreed upon. Similar to the telecom market’s deregulation, we believe the deregulation of the energy industry affords opportunities to capitalize on changes in the energy market. Wind energy is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to meet the increasing demand of the U.S. market.
Creating electrons for consumers with a clean, renewable energy source, without dependence on unstable energy suppliers, is what drives Crownbutte’s business.
Established in 1999, Crownbutte Wind Power, Inc. is a North Dakota based developer of merchant wind power parks, with a current pipeline of over 640 MW of projects in various stages of development across North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana.
Crownbutte has strategically sized these projects to fit into the existing power grid so as to require only minimal transmission system upgrades, and therefore expects to be able to begin construction and operation much sooner than would be the case for larger projects requiring new transmission.
