“Ranchero is our first greenfield project developed from inception through construction and operations since our launch as an owner-operator,” said Michael Rucker, CEO and founder of Scout Clean Energy. “Reaching commercial operations at Ranchero brings Scout’s owned portfolio of wind energy generation in operation and under construction to over 800 MW.”
Scout started construction on Ranchero in January of this year. The completion follows the recently announced commencement of construction on Scout’s 180-MW Heart of Texas wind farm in McCullough County, Texas. The utility-scale wind power project will utilize 120 of the latest generation GE 2.5MW wind turbines with 127-meter rotors.
Rucker stated the company was excited to achieve the milestone for Scout.
“Ranchero will provide clean renewable energy for Texas industry and thousands of homes, as well as up to 10 permanent jobs during operations,” he stated.
RES (Renewable Energy Systems) constructed the project under a balance of plant contract with the Scout team managing and supervising the overall construction process. During peak construction there were as many as two hundred workers who in total logged over 439,000 hours. As the owner-operator, Scout’s asset management team will handle day to day commercial operations.
According to EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator, Ranchero will offset over nine-hundred thousand (900,000) pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually. In addition, it is estimated that Crockett County, the local hospital and independent school district are set to receive $57 million dollars in tax revenue over the life of the project.
Scout secured a proxy revenue swap with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s Alternative Risk Transfer unit, in partnership with Nephila Climate. REsurety provided the risk analytics supporting the long-term proxy revenue swap transaction. Construction Financing of $430 million (including letters of credit) was provided by KeyBank, CoBank-ACB, Rabobank, CIBC, Santander, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. KeyBank served as the lead arranger. GE Energy Financial Services underwrote and funded a portion of the tax equity.
