E.ON Climate & Renewables closes financing for Panther Creek Wind Farm I&II, LLC

E.ON Climate & Renewables North America (EC&R) announced it has secured institutional equity financing for approximately $96.2 million and a commitment to fund further capital contributions from JPM Capital Corporation (J.P. Morgan) in exchange for a partial interest in EC&R’s Panther Creek I&II Wind Farm (Panther Creek).

This financing represents the 5^th transaction since December 2011 between J.P. Morgan and EC&R.  The total value of those transactions is in excess of a half billion dollars.  “The Panther Creek transaction complements E.ON`s overall strategic objectives”, said Dr. Verena Volpert, Senior Vice President Finance, E.ON SE. “We`re delighted to see that our high-quality projects continue to attract positive attention from first –class financial services firms like J.P. Morgan.”

Panther Creek is part of a billion-plus-dollar investment EC&R has made in the Big Spring, Texas area since 2006.  The projects are located in Howard, Sterling and Glasscock Counties, Texas.  Panther Creek’s 172 GE 1.5 megawatt turbines generate enough energy to power approximately 77,000 homes.

“Wind energy generates cleaner, better, energy at an affordable price,” said Steve Trenholm, Chairman, E.ON North America. “In addition, wind energy brings economic development in the form of jobs and increased tax revenue to rural areas like Big Spring. ”

Panther Creek directly supports 20 employees including highly skilled technicians.   In the last five years Panther Creek has generated over $12 million in property taxes for Howard, Sterling and Glasscock Counties.  The revenue is used to support local schools as well as critical county services.

E.ON Climate & Renewables (EC&R), headquartered in Essen, Germany, is responsible for E.ON’s large-scale renewable energy activities. EC&R plays a leading role in the development of the renewable industry worldwide and is already active in onshore and offshore wind, photovoltaic, and concentrating solar power (CSP). E.ON currently operates over 9 GW of renewable capacity including large hydro. Since its formation in 2007, EC&R has already invested more than 9 billion Euros, including more than $5 billion in the U.S solar and wind facilities, and will continue to expand the share of renewable energy in E.ON’s power generation portfolio.