US company Allete has secured almost $350m in tax equity financing in support of two recently completed wind farms in Oklahoma and Minnesota with combined capacity of 553MW.
Allete Clean Energy has sold Class A passive membership interests in the 303MW Diamond Spring project in Oklahoma to FNBC Leasing, an affiliate of JPM Capital Corp.
The wind farm sells electricity to Walmart, Smithfield Foods and Starbucks and achieved full commercial operation in early December.
Allete South Wind has secured tax equity financing from Bank of America for the 250MW Nobles 2 wind farm in southwestern Minnesota.
The project is owned by Nobles 2 Power Partners whose investors include Allete South Wind, energy company Tenaska and Bright Canyon Energy.
Allete South Wind holds a 49% equity interest in the project, which delivers energy to Minnesota Power customers through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Nobles 2 also began commercial operations in early December.
Allete chief financial officer Robert Adams said: “The successful closing on tax equity financing for these two wind sites signifies investors’ confidence in Allete’s sustainability in action strategy.
“That strategy is guiding us to a sustainable future as we answer the call to transform the nation’s energy landscape.
“We see strong growth in the renewable energy sector, and we intend to capitalise on our expertise and reputation as one of the nation’s leaders in renewable energy investment to continue to develop clean-energy solutions for our customers.
“We are grateful to all of our partners and stakeholders that have enabled the development of these successful renewable projects.”