Capital Power has signed an agreement to acquire 100% stake in the Buckthorn Wind, a 100.5MW wind farm located near Dallas, Texas, from private investors.
The deal is expected to be closed in the second quarter of this year, subject to regulatory and other customary closing conditions.
Located in Erath County about, 96km south of Dallas, the Buckthorn wind farm started operations in January 2018. It is supported by two offtake agreements. One agreement is with a US financial institution for a 20-year contract for differences (CfD) to sell 55% of the output and a 13-year financial hedge for the remaining 45% of the output.
The strategic location of the Buckthorn wind project near the Dallas load centre enables a premium in pricing to ERCOT-West projects.
Capital Power president and CEO Brian Vaasjo said: “The acquisition of Buckthorn Wind provided an opportunity to acquire a young renewables asset with a 15-year weighted average contract life remaining.
“With the addition of Cardinal Point Wind, the long-term contracts from these two new assets enhance our contracted cash flow profile and expand our renewables portfolio to approximately 1,200 megawatts with an additional 100 megawatts in advanced development from Whitla Wind 2.”
The Buckthorn Wind project is powered by Vestas turbines
Powered by 29 of Vestas wind turbines, the Buckthorn Wind project has a service and maintenance agreement with Vestas.
From early next year, Capital Power expects to assume the role of operations manager and replace the current third party operations & maintenance services agreement.
Additionally, Capital Power has announced the completion of construction on the 150MW Cardinal Point Wind project. The wind farm is projected to cost more than $236m.
Power generated from the wind farm will be sold under a 12-year fixed price contract to a US financial institutions covering 85% of the output.
