MassDevelopment

Wind Turbine to Power Scituate with Backing from $3+ Million MassDevelopment Bond


August 10, 2011


Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077
Albert Bangert, Town of Scituate, 781-545-8731

MassDevelopment has issued a $3,062,956 Qualified Energy Conservation Bond (QECB) on behalf of Scituate Wind, LLC, a company created in 2009 to develop, finance, and operate a wind power project at 167 Driftway. The project will serve the Town of Scituate's adjacent wastewater treatment plant, and the balance of the power will provide credits to the Town under the provisions of the Commonwealth's Green Communities Act. The company will use bond proceeds to construct one 1500 kW wind turbine on property that Scituate Wind leases from the Town. Cambridge Savings Bank purchased the bond. The Department of Energy Resources and the Executive Office of Administration and Finance provided Scituate with a QECB allocation of $1,531,478. The project also received a $1,531,478 allocation from Plymouth County.

“Scituate Wind is a shovel-ready project that will help to advance the Patrick-Murray Administration's renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals while providing the Town of Scituate with a home-grown source of clean electricity. I am pleased that the project has secured financing that will allow it to move forward,” said Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Mark Sylvia.

“Commissioners Jack Riordan, Anthony O’Brien and myself are very pleased to have been able to utilize a significant portion of the county’s QECB funding allocation to help move the Scituate Wind project forward,” said Sandra Wright, Plymouth County Commission Chairperson. “When the various levels of government cooperate and work together, good things can happen, and Scituate Wind is a good thing.”

“This issuance is our first Qualified Energy Conservation Bond, and we're pleased it furthers the commitment of MassDevelopment, the Town of Scituate, and the Commonwealth to sustainable energy,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “The Town of Scituate will receive both clean energy and significant cost savings.”

“We expect this project to provide 50 percent of our municipal electrical power needs,” said Albert Bangert, the Director of Public Works for Scituate. “This includes our schools, water, sewer, golf, and harbor operations, police, fire and town hall buildings, and street lighting requirements, all at a considerable savings. We project saving $3 million over the next 15 years. And if conditions are favorable to us in 2026, we have the option to extend the lease for an additional 10 years.”

Scituate Wind has executed a power purchase agreement with the Town for an initial 15-year period with fixed prices each year for 100 percent of the power produced. Scituate Wind is a joint venture of Solaya Energy LLC and principals of Palmer Capital Corporation.

“We are extremely pleased to be launching our first of what we expect will be many community-based renewable energy projects in the Commonwealth under the Green Communities Act,” said Gordon Deane, the President of Palmer Capital. “The public-private partnership represented by the Town and Scituate Wind utilizes the best of both sectors – energy demand and available land from the Town combined with expertise and financing capabilities from experienced private sector participants. And the support from MassDevelopment has been a critical factor in overcoming barriers normally encountered in a first project.”

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2010, MassDevelopment financed or managed 238 projects in 104 communities across the state generating investment of nearly $1.4 billion in the Massachusetts economy.

Solaya Energy is the renewable energy development arm of Lumus Construction Inc., a company headquartered in Wilmington, Mass., and is focused on wind, solar and fuel cell power projects throughout the world. Currently, Lumus has 19 MW of wind projects under construction and has managed more than 450 construction projects over the past 10 years.

Palmer Capital has been involved in the development, financing, and management of over $2.2 billion of renewable energy and non-conventional fuel projects from Maine to Hawaii over the past 30 years and has an office in Cohasset, Mass.