LONDON, UK: The Board of Ecofin U.S. Renewables Infrastructure Trust announced the contractual commitment of $49 million acquisition, which will be funded by a combination of the remaining net proceeds from the IPO and from the newly established Revolving Credit Facility.

The closing of the acquisition of a 60 MW operating wind asset (Whirlwind) will fully deploy the company’s IPO proceeds and satisfy RNEW’s diversification objective for wind energy.

Whirlwind is a proven operating wind asset, placed in service in December 2007, using 26 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbine generators with operations and maintenance performed by Siemens Gamesa under a long-term service and maintenance agreement.

It benefits from a fixed-price power purchase agreement with an investment grade electric utility with over 6 years remaining on the initial contract term, providing predictable cash flow.

Whirlwind is located in Texas, which is experiencing sustained growth in electricity demand due to population growth and corporations migrating to this business friendly state.

With electricity prices linked to natural gas prices, which have been rising, these factors provide a good backdrop for recontracting in the future and potential for inflation protection.

With the inclusion of Whirlwind, RNEW’s portfolio will have a weighted average remaining revenue contract term of approximately 17 years. It will provide additional diversification to RNEW’s existing solar portfolio in terms of technology, its proven wind resource, and location in the central U.S.

Moreover, Whirlwind is expected to add incremental distributable cash flow to RNEW immediately. The acquisition of Whirlwind is expected to close before the end of October once its existing project lender has released its liens concurrent with the debt being fully repaid as part of the acquisition.