Geronimo Energy acquires Green River Wind Farm in North Central Illinois from Mainstream Renewable Power

Minnesota-based Geronimo Energy and Dublin, Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power announced today Geronimo’s acquisition of Mainstream’s Green River Wind Farm located in Whiteside, Lee and Bureau Counties in Illinois.

Geronimo Energy is already at the advanced stages of developing the 210 megawatt (MW) Walnut Ridge project, which is adjacent to the Green River project. Together, the Walnut Ridge and Green River wind farms represent up to 435MW of clean wind energy.

Immediately following the acquisition, Geronimo took steps to qualify Green River under the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which expired December 31, 2013. Although the PTC was allowed to expire at the end of 2013, Green River will still be eligible to receive tax credits under the PTC for upwards of 10 years. Geronimo took the same steps for Green River’s sister farm, Walnut Ridge.

Green River is an up to 225MW wind farm development that Mainstream began working on in 2009, with the acquisition of two transmission queue positions from FPC Services, Inc. It encompasses 13,500 acres of land located approximately two hours southwest of Chicago. The area is primarily flat agriculture land that boasts tremendously competitive wind speeds for the Illinois PJM market.

“This acquisition benefits all interested parties,” Blake Nixon, Geronimo Energy President, comments. “It gives Geronimo flexibility and scalability when speaking with power purchasers – and it means the local communities have one point of contact, which keeps communication very simple. We feel that having two projects side by side in such a desirable market as Illinois strengthens the prospects for both developments.”

“Geronimo Energy’s agricultural roots, combined with their regional development experience and financial backing, makes them an ideal partner in moving Green River to construction. We look forward to continuing to support Geronimo Energy in delivering the project into operation,” said Matt Boss, VP North America Development & Operations.

Geronimo Energy is a utility-scale wind and solar energy developer based in Edina, Minnesota. Geronimo has developed three active wind farms in Minnesota, and has a development pipeline of wind and solar projects in various stages of development throughout the United States. In 2013, Geronimo signed nearly 1,000 megawatts of projects under Power Purchase Agreements (PPA). Geronimo has a strategic partnership with Enel Green Power North America, giving it the credibility and capital strength necessary to deliver on large energy projects.

Mainstream Renewable Power is one of the world’s leading independent developers of renewable energy projects. With a development pipeline of over 19GW globally it is currently constructing solar and wind farms across Ireland, South Africa, Chile and Canada. As Europe’s leading independent offshore wind developer Mainstream is developing just under 8GW of offshore wind projects in England, Scotland and Germany with 4.45GW of secured grid connection for these offshore projects. It employs 160+ experienced staff across four continents with offices in Berlin, Cape Town, Chicago, Dublin, Glasgow, Johannesburg, London, Santiago and Toronto.

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