One Year Ago

Pattern Energy was trying to sell a minority stake in its 1 GW of operational, contracted wind farms in North America to raise cash for project development.

Bankers were bullish on financing merchant facilities at Euromoney Seminars’ 8th Annual Power & Renewables Conference in New York.

LS Power was nearing a pair of club deals on its Doswell and Riverside gas-fired plants. [The sponsor had been mulling weather to proceed with a term loan B refinancing of Doswell, after a sale process cooled (PI, 10/29).]

Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners offered C$2.50 ($2.51) per share for Western Wind Energy Corp., as it looked to increase its stake in the company.

A lack of uniform standards for commercial solar installations was proving to be the main obstacle to structuring the market’s maiden securitization of solar panel revenues, according to Paul Detering, ceo of Tioga Energy.

PPL Corp. was shopping its hydro and coal-fired subsidiary PPL Montana in a sale run by UBS.

State Street affiliate Antrim took a tax equity stake in NextEra Energy Resources’ 400 MW Limon I & II wind farms in Colorado alongside JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Barclays dispatched teasers for the 400 MW Gregory gas-fired cogeneration facility near Corpus Christi, Texas, that Rockland Capital, John Hancock Life Insurance and Atlantic Power Corp., were trying to sell.

A team from Union Bank moved over to Pasadena, Calif.-based OneWest Bank to establish a power and project finance operation under Grant Ahearn, executive v.p. and head of the specialized financial services group.

Duke Energy shelved the strategic evaluation of its 7.5 GW Midwest generating fleet as it goes through a rate increase request with the Ohio Public Utilities Commission. [The company expects Ohio regulators to come to a ruling this fall, with the company making a decision about the future of the subsidiary in the first quarter (PI, 8/9).]

NextEra Energy Resources was looking for tax equity investors in its Limon I & II wind farms totaling 400 MW in Colorado.

Luminus Management, CarVal Investors and Fortress Investment Group extended the timeline for selling their 800 MW Bosque gas-fired plant in Texas to accommodate Calpine, which entered the auction late.

Panda Power Funds floated its second term loan B for its Sherman project in Texas, at LIBOR plus 800 basis points. [Panda priced its third B loan in a year for the Liberty CCGT project in Pennsylvania at L+650 bps.]

Georgia Power waived its right of first refusal for Perennial Power’s Mid-Georgia cogeneration facility, paving the way for a consortium led by ArcLight Capital Partners to buy the facility.

Edison International was set to file for bankruptcy if its efforts to restructure debt were note successful.

Industry Funds Management subsidiary Essential Power was looking to refinance a 1,721 MW portfolio of plants in PJM and ISO New England with a $665 million senior secured package.

LS Power sealed a $750 million dividend recapitalization for LSP Madison at LIBOR plus 450 basis points.

Energy Transfer Equity was looking to sell two gas distribution utility subsidiaries acquired in its $7.9 billion takeover of Southern Union Co.

Renewables developers were scouting new project financing options at the REFF-Wall Street conference in New York, in the forms of master limited partnerships, real estate investment trusts and project bonds.

Harbert Power had been looking to sell its stake in independent power producer GWF Energy and Morgan Stanley was running the sale.

Price talk emerged at LIBOR plus 475-500 basis points on a term loan B for Energy Capital Partner’s EquiPower Resource Holdings.

Rockland Capital put its merchant 1 GW Harquahala combined cycle facility in Maricopa County, Ariz., up for sale in an auction run by Goldman Sachs.

BP Wind Energy and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power was set to start talking to lenders about financing its $800 million, 419 MW Flat Ridge 2 wind project near Wichita, Kan.

A trio of investors including Fortress Investment Group, Luminus Management and CarVal Investors put the 800 MW Bosque gas-fired facility in Laguna Park, Texas, on the market.

Terra-Gen Power wrapped a $650 million deal backing phases seven and nine of its Alta Wind project in Tehachapi, Calif., as 11 lenders took pieces of the deal with pricing starting at LIBOR plus 262.5 basis points.

[The company lined up $41.4 million in loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and Canadian Climate Fund for three projects, including Calama (PI, 4/1).]

Alcoa was near receiving initial bids for its Tapoco portfolio of hydro assets totaling 351 MW in North Carolina and Tennessee in an auction run by JPMorgan.

Pattern Energy was asking lenders to submit proposals for the financing of its 265 MW Ocotillo wind project in Imperial Valley, Calif.

Exelon wrapped its $7.9 billion acquisition of Constellation Energy Group, which triggered the start of the six months it had to sell 2.648 GW of coal-fired plants in Maryland.

Edison International was evaluating various options for its unregulated power producer unit Edison Mission Energy, including a potential bankruptcy filing.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings was on the cusp of closing its $850 million, 144a bond offering financing the 586 MW Topaz solar photovoltaic project in San Luis Obispo County, Calif.

LS Power was talking to lenders for financing backing its 175 MW Centinela solar photovoltaic project in Imperial Valley, Calif.

Rockland Capital had been selected as the stalking horse bidder for energy storage flywheel developer Beacon Power, with a $30.5 million bid plus $6.6 million in funding to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Tenaska affiliate Tenaska Solar Ventures had opted to use only a bank loan to finance its $600 million Imperial Solar South project in Imperial County, Calif., and dropped its hunt for a bond tranche.

enXco was looking to take out funding backing its 102.5 MW Shiloh III wind farm in Solano County, Calif.

LS Power had tapped Banco Santander to lead a bank tranche and Prudential to lead a bond component in a financing backing its 127 MW Arlington Valley solar project in Maricopa County, Ariz.

Edison Mission Group landed a $242 million financing backing 204 MW of wind projects in the U.S. via lead WestLB.

MetLife was considering taking a tax equity stake in Wind Capital Group’s 201 MW Post Rock wind project in Ellsworth and Lincoln Counties, Kansas.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. made its solar debut with the purchase of the $2 billion, 550 MW Topaz solar project in San Luis Obispo County, Calif., from First Solar.

Brookfield Asset Management had wrapped a refinancing backing its move to maintain ownership of the Cross Sound Cable in the Long Island Sound in New York.

JPMorgan Capital Corp. made a tax equity investment in three NextEra Energy Resources wind projects in California.

AES was in talks with creditors of its AES Eastern Energy subsidiary, the owner of four coal-fired plants totaling 1.17 GW in New York.

Barclays and Citigroup released teasers for two Tenaska Capital Management merchant plants, the 800 MW Rio Nogales in Seguin, Texas, and the 830 MW High Desert in Victorville, Calif.

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure was looking to sell its stake in Sociedad Austral de Electricidad, a generation, transmission and distribution company in Chile that it co-owned with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

The European debt crisis was the big concern for project finance lenders at the North American Energy and Infrastructure Finance Forum, with many banks re-pricing, or withdrawing, their participation in the market.

NRG Solar began looking for about $300 million to finance its 66 MW Alpine solar project in Lancaster, Calif.

Edison Mission Energy was reviewing refinancing options ahead of maturities totaling $1.5 billion in 2012 and 2013.

Ray Wood, former co-head of the power and renewable energy group at Credit Suisse, started running the global renewable group as Scott DeGhetto, former managing director and co-head, left the bank.

As part of the process in the bankruptcy of AES subsidiary AES Thames, the company released teasers for the sale of its 208 MW Thames coal-fired plant in Montville, Conn. Houlihan Lokey was advising AES.

Tenaska Solar Ventures along with advisor Citigroup was beginning to sift through financing proposals from lenders for its 130 MW Imperial Solar Energy Center South project in Imperial County, Calif.