V SEPA GREEN POWER PARTNERSHIP9 Aligning Green Power Partners with New Renewable Energy Projects Pilot Project Summary Project Name: Monarch I Developer Name: Monarch Wind Power LLC Contact Information: Robert Gay, rgavffimonarchwindpower.com Renewable Energy Type: Commercial scale wind turbines Total Planned Megawatt (MW) Size: 19.2MW Project Location: Warren County, Illinois Is the project permitted?: Yes, including Incidental Take Permit for Indiana bat by USFWS If not, what is the permit status?: What is the status of the project's site?: 40-year land leases with four landowners. Five of the 12 turbines are to be located on property owned by and leased from Warren County itself. Have land leases been filed with the county?: Yes. Leases are recorded with Warren County's Recorders Office. What is the status of interconnection, and have system impact and facility studies been completed? (Distribution or transmission level projects are both eligible): Both feasibility and system impact and facility studies have been completed by Ameren CIPS, which owns the 69kv distribution line located on the site. Ameren has offered a standard interconnection agreement for a Qualified Facility. 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?: MISO and Ameren have confirmed that no MISO review is required. The system impact simulation indicated that no flow would go to transmission even during low demand periods. No upgrades are required for the 69kv line, which runs along State Highway 67 and is about 250 feet from the planned substation. Only relays and circuit breakers are required along with communication links to a nearby substation and a switching station. ------- What is the status of the Environmental Impact Statement?: US Dept of Energy completed an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the project (full NEPA review) on August 1, 2011 and issued a Finding of No significant Impact. The EA included a Section 7 Consultation with the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service. A Biological Opinion (BO) was issued on June 27, 2011 and permitted incidental take of the endangered Indiana bat subject to mitigation and monitoring protocols set forth in the appendix of the EA. Monarch and the USFWS worked closely to design a monitoring protocol with participation of facility members at nearby Monmouth College. Mitigation measures include raising cut-in speeds to m/s at night during two months of the fall migration period. There is no known habitat for the Indiana bat in Warren County. Is any element of the project - technology or other - experimental or pilot-phase?: No 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?: Budget presumes at least one full-time employee at the site along with GE warranties on the 1.6MW model xle turbines and GE service contracts for maintenance and repairs. For wind projects, has a meteorological tower been installed? If yes, when was the tower installed and how much data has been collected?: MET mast was installed in October 2007 and four year of onsite wind data have been collected. Who has analyzed the data and what is that person's experience with respect to projects that have actually been financed?: Initial wind analysis was done by Dr Christopher Fasano, Chair, Physics Dept at Monmouth College which was corroborated by GE Energy and included correlations with 3 other nearby MET masts. A second wind study with similar results was done by Garrard Hassan including correlations with longer wind histories from nearby airport data. Can the turbine manufacturer be financed through "traditional" tax equity and debt in the U.S.?: Yes. The turbines are GE 1.6MW model xle with 82.5m rotor diameter and 100-meter hub height. Provide a short summary of how you view project finance and structure/ownership: Depending on the terms of the off-take agreement and how soon an agreement can be reached, both the 1603 Treasury award and outside financing are available for creditworthy off-take partners. Alternatively, majority ownership is transferable to an equity partner that would immediately build the project on a merchant basis. What are your ideal types of prospective institutions/partners?: Our ideal partner is a creditworthy institution or company that would purchase the project's estimated annual output of 64,000 MWh of power and/or the corresponding RECs under a long-term contract. Alternatively, we would welcome a financial or investment partner that would provide the remainder of financing to immediately build the facility on a merchant basis. What is the intended off-take for the renewable power with respect to bundled or unbundled products and is there a preference? ------- For prospective institutions or partners that are only interested in the RECs, we could offer a long-term 'variable REC' contract under which the power is delivered and sold to the local utility at wholesale prices. We would prefer to sell the power bundled to prospective power purchasers, but would consider unbundled proposals. ------- |