EME funded the balance of project costs with an equity contribution and a treasury cash grant.
Located in Torrance County, about 90 miles southeast of Albuquerque, the $190m project has a generating capacity of 100MW of electricity.
Electricity at the site is generated by 40 wind turbines manufactured by Clipper Windpower and sold under a long-term contract to Arizona Public Service.
The financing package consists of $50m of bonds issued by the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (NMRETA), with proceeds loaned to the High Lonesome project, and $25.25m issued directly by the project.
The NMRETA issuance was sized to reimburse High Lonesome for transmission-related expenditures, including transmission lines owned by the project, substation equipment and upgrades to Public Service of New Mexico’s transmission system.
Both bonds mature in seven years in November 2017 and the interest rate is 6.85% for both series.
