[< SEPA GREEN POWER PARTNERSHIP" Aligning Green Power Partners with New Renewable Energy Projects Pilot Project Summary Project Name: Twin Ridges Wind Farm Developer Name: EverPower Wind Holdings, Inc. Contact Information: Katie Bellezza, kbellezza(a)everpower.com Renewable Energy Type: Wind REC (PA Tier 1) Total Planned Megawatt (MW) Size: 139.4 Project Location: Somerset County, PA Is the project permitted?: If not, what is the permit status?: Project permitting is in process. In Maryland we are basically finished permitting - the MD CPCN and Allegany County land development permits are in hand. In Pennsylvania we still need the NPDES permit, but are expecting to receive it this week. The rest of the permits that we are working to finalize (Highway Occupancy, etc.) are procedural in nature and in process. What is the status of the project's site?: ~7,700 acres signed up for leases, easements or waivers, tree-clearing has begun, turbines will be ordered by end of month, and the facility is anticipated to start commercial operations by the end of 2012. We need to finalize two turbine properties on the project site, and one on the transmission line side; all other land positions are in place. Have land leases been filed with the county?: All of the memorandums of agreements are filed with the county, and we have permitted each turbine location with the county. What is the status of interconnection, and have system impact and facility studies been completed? (Distribution or transmission level projects are both eligible): Interim ISA signed by PJM and Penelec, CSA is currently under negotiation Does the transmission owner (TO) or independent system operator (ISO) have a process to study the project's impact on the local or regional grid and the subsequent cost to interconnect?: ------- Yes, PJM interconnection process (see above) What is the status of the Environmental Impact Statement?: There is no EIS requirement in PA, and so this wasn't required. Is any element of the project - technology or other - experimental or pilot-phase?: No, this project does not have any experimental or pilot phases. What is the long- and short-term operations program of the project? Does the renewable energy technology manufacturer have a technical support team locally available?: The turbine supplier provides a team of O&M professionals for the short-term. EverPower supplements this team with internal resources. For the long-term, EverPower will evaluate the most favorable O&M solution for the project and the company. For wind projects, has a meteorological tower been installed? If yes, when was the tower installed and how much data has been collected?: EverPower has supplied data recorded at the Twin Ridges site since February 2008 to Garrad Hassan from 3 meteorological masts up to a height of 80 m. The wind data history is on a ten-minute interval and includes wind speed average, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum as well as wind direction. Who has analyzed the data and what is that person's experience with respect to projects that have actually been financed?: Garrad Hassan performed the third party analysis the data. We have used them to finance previous projects. In addition to the third party report, we have performed our own internal analysis of the historic data and site. Can the turbine manufacturer be financed through "traditional" tax equity and debt in the U.S.?: Yes, we have financed these turbines on previous sites. Provide a short summary of how you view project finance and structure/ownership: We are pursuing non-recourse debt at the project level LLC. There are challenges for facilities lacking long-term contracted revenues especially when there aren't standards for underwriting against forward REC prices. Long-term REC contracts enable additional financing which provides essential capital to build new facilities. What are your ideal types of prospective institutions/partners?: EverPower recently initiated a program called Choose PA Wind to educate local Pennsylvania buyers of the benefits of keeping REC purchases from local new wind sources. When national RECs are purchased, the environmental benefit of improved air quality and economic benefits of jobs and state investment is lost to another state. We are encouraging Pennsylvania buyers ranging from universities to multinational corporations, to consider the implications of their purchase more than just the bottom line. ------- As part of the Choose PA Wind initiative, we have partnered with the Energy Cooperative of Pennsylvania, a retail provider of green power products, to market new, in-state wind RECs. We can offer retail products through the Energy Cooperative while maintaining the ability to offer traditional wholesale products (described more below). What is the intended off-take for the renewable power with respect to bundled or unbundled products and is there a preference? We will consider a wide range of off-takes for this facility. We can work with a retail energy supplier to provide a long-term (3 to 10 year) retail full requirements product which would give buyers price stability and certainty. We can also offer wholesale products such as bundled Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and REC-only purchases for various terms ranging from 1 to 20 years. Since we are raising merchant financing, our facility's open position on energy and RECs allows us to be very flexible on size, term, and structure. ------- |