IWT Developers win with Wynne's Liberal Government while Ratepayers Lose

A short business news article May 29, 2013 headlined “Laurentian Bank joins $130M Group Refinancing Wind Farm in Ontario” disclosed that Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners had refinanced their 50.6 MW “Gosfield wind farm project in Kingsville, Ont.” that commenced operation in 2010. Quick math disclosed the refinancing was completed at about $2.6 million per megawatt (MW) which is well above the LUEC (levelized unit energy cost) posted on the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) website where the estimate is $1/$1.2 million per MW. That information led to a review of the Brookfield 2012 Annual Report where the following was found;

“We refinanced indebtedness on a 189 MW Ontario wind facility through a C$232 million loan for a term of 15 years.” 

The financing for the 189 MW wind facility made sense as it indicates the cost of financing was approximately $1.2 million per MW in line with the EIA estimates for onshore wind. So why were Brookfield able to refinance the Gosfield project at a level double the EIA's estimated capital cost?  Was it due to the guaranteed 20 year contracts and the payments Ontario's ratepayers would have to make over that 20 year term, or does Ontario experience better wind attributes?  

Ontario's experience has shown that it is not the latter so it must be the former!

The following Sunday (June 2nd) proved that Ontario will pay wind developers no matter what!

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