Starwood closes Gainesville biomass sale
The sale of the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center biomass plant in Florida has been closed by consortium led by private equity fund manager Starwood Energy Group Global to the City of Gainesville for US$750 million.
Gainesville Renewable Energy Center (GREC), a partnership of Energy Management, Inc., BayCorp Holdings, Starwood Energy and Fagen Power, LLC, has sold its 102.5 megawatt biomass facility to Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) for US$750 million dollars. The GREC facility reached commercial operation in 2013 and sold all of its energy, capacity, and environmental attributes to GRU under a 30-year Power Purchase Agreement.
Jim Gordon, CEO of GREC, remarked:
“Our biomass project had an excellent safety, environmental, and operating history. The sale was prompted by the recognition that both GREC and GRU could unlock enhanced value through this transaction.”
Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) is a multi-service utility owned by the City of Gainesville. It is the 5th largest municipal electric utility in Florida.The company serves approximately 93,000 retail and wholesale customers in Gainesville and surrounding areas.
Since 1975, Energy Management, Inc. Boston, Massachusetts, has been developing innovative and award winning energy projects in the United States. The company focuses on developing renewable energy projects utilizing biomass, wind and solar energy technologies for a wide range of industrial, institutional and utility clients.
Starwood Energy Group is a private investment firm based in Greenwich, CT that specializes in energy infrastructure investments. The Starwood Energy Group team brings extensive development, construction, operations, acquisition and financing expertise to its investments, with a focus on the natural gas and renewable power generation, and transmission sectors. Starwood Energy Group is an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group Global, L.P.
BayCorp Holdings, Ltd. is a private merchant energy company controlled by Tavistock Group. BayCorp owns and operates various renewable energy projects and oil and natural gas production assets. BayCorp also owns NEO Energy, LLC, an innovative start-up company producing renewable energy and organic fertilizer from food waste.
Fagen specializes in providing full EPC wraps to its client base and also performing General Contractor scopes, the company self performs, civil, structural, insulation, millwright, piping, instrumentation, electrical and start up services. Fagen is building a better world for tomorrow.
