TerraForm is a yieldco that went public in July. Yieldcos are an increasingly popular way to hold renewable energy assets. They let developers raise capital at lower costs by selling completed projects to their yieldcos and using the proceeds to fund new projects.
The purchase of First Wind is expected to be immediately accretive to TerraForm Power, delivering $72.5 million in unlevered cash available for distribution next year, according to the statement.
Ending a partnership challenged twice before state regulators and in court, Nova Scotia-based Emera has sold its interest in a $333 million joint venture with First Wind, which was purchased Monday by a Missouri-based renewable power developer.
Emera announced Monday that it has agreed to sell its interest in Northeast Wind Partners back to First Wind for $223 million.
The deal would end a legal challenge to that partnership, which Houlton Water Co. and a group representing industrial power users argued violated the intent of New England’s deregulation of its electricity market.
Opponents of the partnership had won in a ruling earlier this year before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which found that state regulators did not properly determine whether the relationship between Emera and First Wind provides an incentive for the subsidiary of the utility, Emera Maine, to favor one power generator over another.
Regulators reviewed that decision a second time and approved it in a 2-1 vote in July, with Commissioner Mark Vannoy as the lone dissenting vote on the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
Over the last couple of years, SunEdison undertook a successful turnaround plan. Two years ago, the company’s stock was sagging as low-cost Chinese solar panels undercut American offerings.
But with the help of a new plan pushed heavily by Steve Tesoriere of Altai Capital, an activist hedge fund that SunEdison surprisingly welcomed into its boardroom, SunEdison has built both solar panels and power-generating projects around the world. SunEdison held a successful initial public offering for TerraForm in July.
The acquisition will help TerraForm satisfy investors looking for a bigger pipeline of projects, Shayle Kann, an analyst with GTM Research, wrote in an email. He added that First Wind had “made a successful foray into solar project development over the past couple years.”
Jigar Shah, the founder of SunEdison tells GTM, "Access to low-cost capital is a huge strategic advantage today. First Wind needs access to this capital and this transaction shows that SunEdison has more credibility on YieldCos and low-cost capital than anyone."
Google will invest $145 million to fund the construction a solar power plant on an abandoned California oil filed by Missouri-based utility SunEdison.
SunEdison Inc.’s subsidiary TerraForm Power Inc. has debuted as an independent company.
TerraForm Power has granted its underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,009,750 shares at the IPO price, which was set at $25.
TerraForm will buy renewable-energy assets from SunEdison and other companies, according to the filing.
On Sept. 11, 2009, Democrat congressman Eric Massa of the 29th Congressional District of New York -- yes, this district actually exists -- wrote President Obama a letter regarding the Obama administration's $74.6 million grant to Canadaigua Power Partners, LLC, and Canandaigua Power Partners II, LLC, in Cohocton, N.Y. These companies, according to Massa, "act as shell companies that deceptively operate on behalf of First Wind, which is currently under investigation by New York State Attorney General Cuomo for corruption charges in Cohocton and across the Northeast."
Gruber: Obama personally asked me to help disguise unhelpful Obamacare facts
