The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by Global Project Finance partner Bill Bice, represented the lenders in the construction and permanent financing of a portfolio of 11 wind energy facilities located near Twin Falls County, Idaho. The lenders included The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, LTD., New York Branch, ING Capital LLC and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NordLB), New York Branch. The Idaho Wind Project owned by Idaho Wind Partners 1, LLC, is the largest wind power portfolio in Idaho with a total capacity of 183 MW. Once completed, the portfolio is expected to qualify for the Federal Treasury Grant program for renewable energy projects.
“This financing demonstrates that wind power is an essential renewable energy source, which can tremendously benefit the US,” commented Mr. Bice. “Our hope is that future legislation will support the development of similar wind projects with the potential to help the environment and strengthen the economy.”
Idaho Wind Partners 1, LLC is jointly owned by subsidiaries of Atlantic Power Corporation, Exergy Development Group, GE Energy Financial Services and Reunion Power LLC. Idaho Power Company has contracted to purchase all of the electricity produced by the facilities under 20-year power purchase agreements. Fagen, Inc., the engineering and procurement contractor, has commenced construction at each of the facilities and is expected to complete several of the facilities by the end of 2010.
Additional Milbank attorneys involved in this transaction include partners Lewis Putman (Global Corporate, New York) and Mark Regante (Tax, New York); of counsel Bruce Gardner (Real Estate, New York); associates Candice Ota, Danielle Hunt, Alyssa Frederick, Jeffrey Leider (Global Project Finance, New York), Erika DelDuca (Real Estate, New York), Joanna Grossman (Tax, New York); and regulatory advisor James Liles (Washington, DC).
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. Our transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance, project finance, acquisition finance and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation and arbitration teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. Our clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC.
