Leeward raises USD 175 Million for Colorado-based Panorama Wind Farm

Renewable energy company Leeward Renewable Energy LLC has reportedly announced the closure of secured tax equity and construction financing commitments for its Panorama Wind Farm situated in Weld County, Colorado.

MUFG Bank Ltd. acted as a bookrunner, coordinating lead arranger, and administrative agent for the financing of around USD 190 million. The financing included a tax equity bridge loan, a back leverage term loan, and a construction loan commitment. Silicon Valley Bank, Helaba Group, and National Australia Bank served as lending group participants and Goldman Sachs offered a tax equity commitment of USD 135 million.

Apart from its Mountain Breeze and Cedar Creek projects, the greenfield Panorama project is Leeward’s third wind farm development in Weld County. Vestas-American Wind Technology provided the 66 wind turbine generators that can generate 145 MW (megawatts) of clean energy.

Under a power purchase agreement that was previously announced with Guzman Energy, the project will produce affordable electricity for close to 53,000 homes in Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado.

According to Chris Loehr, the Chief Financial Officer of Leeward, the financial support from MUFG Bank enables the company to complete the Panorama construction with state-of-the-art technologies, bringing the total capacity of generation to 617 MW and aiding Colorado in attaining its goal of 100% generation of green energy by 2040.

Beth Waters, MUFG’s Managing Director of Project Finance, cited that the organization welcomes the opportunity to back the efforts of Leeward that are in line with its commitment to the financing of renewable energy.

Commenting on the investment, Vivek Kagzi, from Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Sustainable Investing Group expressed that investments like these allow its sponsor clients like Leeward to optimize all the incentive advantages that are available for offering wind projects. The investor looks forward to continuing to assist sponsors like Leeward as it builds renewable solutions to tackle the current climate change efforts.

The construction of the wind farm has commenced and it is expected to be complete by Q2 of 2022.

Source credit:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211123005574/en/Leeward-Renewable-Energy-Closes-175-Million-in-Financing-for-Panorama-Wind-Farm