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Showing posts with label Financing Options for Wind Power Developers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Financing Options for Wind Power Developers. Show all posts

3.18.2013

For All My Wind Energy Enthusiasts

Special Edition Wind Turbine Technology

Topics Covered: Modeling for Better Reliability, Smalley Wind Power Series, Simulating Wind Turbine Effects on Radar Returns, Connector Solutions for Wind Engines, Wind Turbine Slip Rings, Reliable Fiber Optics Solutions for Wind Turbines, Low Wind Turbines on the Rise



GlobalSpec: Wind Turbine Technology Special Edition
Wind Turbine Technology
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Modeling for Better Reliability
Modeling for Better Reliability
Gearboxes fail for many reasons, and determining a root cause is often difficult. As a result, more manufacturers are turning to computer models that can stress a design before it winds up at the top of a tower. Research by the Gearbox Reliability Collaborative shows that useful models need to consider more variables than many people expect. As these additional factors are added, such as housing flexibility, misalignment, and planetary mount movement, predicted reliability goes surprisingly downhill.
DuPont™ Nomex® Energy Solutions Webinar: New Requirements for Electrical Equipment: Why Materials Matter — April 9, 2013
DuPont™ Nomex® Energy Solutions Webinar:
New Requirements for Electrical Equipment: Why Materials Matter — April 9, 2013
On April 9, DuPont™ Nomex® Energy Solutions will present "New Requirements for Electrical Equipment: Why Materials Matter". Learn about emerging requirements for electrical equipment design. Discover the benefits of a total system solution, and more.
Join your peers for this free, informative, and interactive ONLINE webinar — right from the convenience of your desktop. Register today!
Do You Have the Latest Standards?
Do You Have the Latest Standards?
American National Standards Institute, Inc.
ANSI has released a new section of its Web site specifically focused on wind turbine standards. Learn more about wind turbine standards covering topics as far ranging as full-scale structural testing and acoustic noise measurement, as well as a 6-part information model for communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants.
An Ideal Enclosure
An Ideal Enclosure
Fibox Enclosures
Made from polycarbonate for harsh environments Fibox's, ARCA features UL, NEMA 4X/6P and IP 66/67 rating plus CE certification, this enclosure is also available in custom colors matched to PMS, FED STD 595C, or European RAL colors.
European Recession? What Recession?
European Recession? What Recession? Curious about who installed the most turbines in Europe last year? Or what towers are most popular in offshore installations? The European Wind Energy Association's annual report on offshore trends is a valuable source of these and other key technology indicators. Installed generating capacity increased 31% in 2012. Interestingly, the average turbine size remains 4 MW, in spite of the trend to bigger and bigger blades.
Smalley Wind Power Series
Smalley Wind Power
Series
Smalley Steel Ring Company
Smalley is the leading manufacturer of Spirolox Retaining Rings and Wave Springs for the power generation industry. Smalley's standard Wind Power Series is available in up to 120 in. diameters. Standard materials sizes are stocked for production, with delivery in as little as two weeks. Ten-thousand parts are stocked in carbon and stainless steel.
Simulating Wind Turbine Effects on Radar Returns
Simulating Wind Turbine
Effects on Radar Returns
Remcom (USA)
Wind turbines located near radar installations can significantly interfere with a radar's ability to detect its intended targets. Remcom's XGtd software is a high-frequency solver capable of calculating the radar cross section of electrically large objects. In this paper, interference from wind turbines is predicted using XGtd simulations. Download the whitepaper
Connector Solutions for Wind Engines
Connector Solutions for
Wind Engines
Multi-Contact USA
Multi-Contact products suited for wind power plants: Round connectors simplify the connection between wind engine segments on-site. Fork connectors facilitate maintenance processes in the switch gear. Depending on the configuration, the modular connector CombiTac can be used in various parts of the windmill, from the switch case to the nacelle.
Low Wind Turbines on the Rise
Low Wind Turbines on the Rise Fitting the turbine to the environment is no better demonstrated than in Bavaria. With low winds and tall forests, smaller turbines on tall towers are perfect for the heavily forested region. The low wind market segment is heating up for just this reason, according to Wind Power Monthly. GE, Nordex, and other manufacturers are testing this low wind niche with a slew of 2.5 MW turbines.
Wind Turbine Slip Rings
Wind Turbine Slip Rings

United Equipment Accessories,
Inc.
United Equipment Accessories' wind turbine slip rings are engineered to perform up to 75 million revolutions. UEA slip rings offer design versatility and a wide selection of circuitry. Our engineers will work with you on your specific wind turbine application to provide the highest performing quality slip ring available!
Preassembled Substation Control Buildings
Preassembled
Substation
Control Buildings
Trachte, Inc.
Trachte builds high-quality collector and interconnect buildings integrating all the equipment, wiring, and instrumentation needed to support wind farm operations. We have building solutions for wind power customers including wind farm developers, EPC firms, electrical and construction contractors, interconnect utilities, relay and protection panel manufacturers, OEMs, and substation packagers.
Reliable Fiber Optics Solutions for Wind Turbines
Reliable Fiber Optics
Solutions for Wind
Turbines
Avago Technologies
Key applications for industrial fiber optic components in wind turbine systems include: power electronic gate driver for rectifiers and inverters, control and communication boards, turbine control units, condition monitoring systems, and wind farm networking. Learn more...
Tantalizing Teardown
Tantalizing Teardown Every engineer wonders what's wearing out in a working turbine, but how many of us get to tear one apart in the middle of its lifespan? The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory did just that. They ran a 1 kW grid-connected SWIFT turbine for two years, then ripped it apart. There were the usual paint chips and wear marks on the nose cone, but the generator presented more serious issues.
Sweep Twist Improves Performance
Sweep Twist Improves Performance Longer blades mean more power, but at some point weight and torsional stress become limiting factors. Sweep-twist blades shed turbulence loads at the tip, in much the same way whale and porpoise fins reduce drag. Renewable Energy World reports on the Star project, which crafted a prototype sweep-twist blade. In its final 56 m form, it converted turbulence into a 12% power improvement over traditional blades.
Optical Monitors Reduce Stress
Optical Monitors Reduce Stress Monitoring blade stress and wear is critical to an effective operations and maintenance program. Copper strain gauges are typically used for blade load measurement, but they suffer from limited lifetimes and calibration instability. Optical strain gauges offer several advantages, according to this study. It stresses better reliability, cleaner data, and reduced recalibration headaches.
Sandia's Reliability CREW
Sandia's Reliability CREW Is your maintenance and operation team effective? Benchmarking turbine uptime against industry norms is a great way to check your maintenance ROI and spot patterns before they become problems. Luckily, Sandia National Laboratories has done the basic work for you. Their Continuous Reliability Enhancement for Wind (CREW) database contains a wealth of information on predicted uptime, wind speed and generation calculations, and contributors to turbine unavailability.
The Fight over Inner Space
The Fight over Inner Space For the past 18 months the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been reviewing clearance issues inside turbine towers. OSHA expects a 30 in. clearance between the ladder and any fixed objects. In many towers, mating flanges, bolts, and other objects intrude on this space. Operators and manufacturers are holding their collective breath as they await a ruling that may require ladder relocation in hundreds, if not thousands, of towers.
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March 18, 2013 - Volume 3 Issue 1
© 2013 IHS. IHS, the IHS globe design, GlobalSpec, SpecSearch and The Engineering Web are registered trademarks of IHS, 30 Tech Valley Drive, Suite 102, East Greenbush, NY 12061 - 800.261.2052. All other products, company names, or other marks appearing in this e-newsletter are the trademarks and property of their respective owners.

5.20.2010

New Financing Option for Wind Developers

by David Wagman, Chief Editor, REWNA Magazine
Published: May 17, 2010


Wind power plant developers have an additional financing option available to them, thanks to changes in federal tax law. Previously, production tax credits were available to parties that owned, operated and sold electricity generated by the wind project. The changes now allow for leasing entities not directly engaged in project operations to claim either investment tax credits or to qualify for an ITC cash grant in lieu of production tax credits. This additional flexibility broadens the financing options available to project developers.

And that opens a new source of money for developers, said Lance Markowitz, senior vice president and manager of the Leasing and Asset Finance Division of Union Bank, N.A., which has been in the power business for close to 30 years. Markowitz, a Los Angeles native who graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, leads a division that focuses on providing finance to the renewable energy sector, largely in the U.S. and Canada. The division also actively provides construction and term loans for renewable energy projects.

In 2009, the unit served as lead arranger for eight construction and/or term-debt financings totaling some $1.7 billion and representing 950 MW of capacity. It also was a lead investor in nine wind and solar projects. Union Bank has partnership or lease investments in 20 renewable energy projects aggregating over 1,750 MW and $3.7 billion in value.

Leasing options can be attractive because they can provide more incremental financing and help clarify the extent of a firm's financial obligation, Markowitz said.

"In a flip structure the cash is either shut off or turned on," he said. As a result, a developer may see no cash at all. Under a rental obligation, certain coverages relative to cash flow are targeted. The result is more consistency across the project lifetime. "We're getting rents, tax benefits and residual benefits" which, when compared with the loan or partnership over 10 years, result in a larger financing amount, he said.

Markowitz set up a lease structure for a portfolio of four photovoltaic projects totaling 6 MW. Each project was bought individually, but the cash flow went into a waterfall structure made up of revenue collected, expenses paid and rent dispersed on the transaction.

"The developer got fairly significant financing," Markowitz said. A key component to writing a lease is to pay market value for the assets. For solar photovoltaic assets he said that was around $6 a watt "and prices are going down significantly."

Union Bank is part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's (MUFG) project finance effort. Some clients include Acciona, AES, Enel, EnXco, Infigen, SunEdison, Terra-Gen Power and EME.

Markowitz and his two-person team, who include Melisa Wilson, senior vice president, and Kenji Ogawa, vice president, look for fully developed projects with a well-defined outlook. In evaluating a loan opportunity the bank considers the quality of the developer, the terms and quality of the resource power purchase agreement, the quality of the technology and the adequacy of the resource.

"We need to have confidence in the resource projections," he said. Land rights and water rights are also important review criteria.

Apart from its lending activities and partnership investments, Union Bank, N.A., has been active during the past decade in underwriting leasing solutions for the power sector. To date, Union Bank has been a lead investor in 14 power generation facilities that use a lease structure. These facilities aggregate over 4,500 MW and $4.3 billion in value.

For example, a U.S.-based chemical company wanted a 750 MW cogeneration facility, including steam for its own internal use and power to sell to the local distribution grid. Union Bank bought the project and leased it back to the chemical manufacturer for 20 years. The lessor earns a stream of rents and monetizes the depreciation and residual interest in the facility.

"We have interests in 5,000 to 6,000 MW through partnerships and leases," Markowitz said.

Leasing clients include AES, SunEdison, First Energy, Mirant and Calpine. While leasing in the renewable energy market remains nascent, Union Bank believes that leasing will become an increasingly important financing tool due to certain changes to the tax code as well as continued growth in the renewable energy market.

UnionBanCal Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., which itself is a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.

Info Provided by:Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information

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