D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI), a company that acquires, owns and manages long-term contracted renewable energy assets in North America, says the 180 MW AC Cove Mountain solar projects in Iron County, Utah, have begun commercial operation.
“The DESRI team is thrilled to begin commercial operations at our Cove Mountain facilities which were completed through our strong partnerships with PacifiCorp, Facebook and First Solar,” says David Zwillinger, CEO of DESRI. “These are the first of DESRI’s renewable energy projects in Utah to reach commercial operation and represent an important milestone in our mission to expand the production of clean energy in the state.”
Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain 2 have long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with PacifiCorp on behalf of Facebook, providing Facebook’s data center operations with new solar resources. Swinerton Renewable Energy constructed the projects.
Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain 2 represent two of DESRI’s nine projects that are currently operating, under construction or have signed PPAs in Utah. DESRI’s other projects in Utah include Hunter Solar, which began operating this year, and Sigurd Solar, which reached mechanical completion in March.
The acquisition and construction of the Cove Mountain projects were financed by a syndicate of lenders, including HSBC as coordinating lead arranger, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, National Cooperative Services Corp. and Fifth Third Bank. Wells Fargo provided tax equity for the projects.
Photo by Rennett Stowe is licensed under CC BY 2.0
