Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In or around 2010, the Xinjiang Branch of China Development Bank (CDB) issued an approximately $6,300,000 USD (RMB 40,771,000) loan to Uilk Wind Farm LLC — a United States-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) jointly owned by Tianrun Uilk, LLC, a United States-incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary of United States-incorporated TianRun USA, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beijing Tianrun New Energy Investment Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese private sector wind farm company Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (97% equity stake), and Uilk Wind I, LLC (1% equity stake), Uilk Wind II, LLC (1% equity stake), and Uilk Wind III, LLC (1% equity stake) — for the 4.5 MW Uilk Wind Farm Project. This loan carried a maturity period of approximately 13 years and a maturity in 2023. Goldwind issued a guarantee for the loan via a standby letter of credit. The 4.5 MW Uilk Wind Farm Project sought to construct a wind farm on a 160-acre parcel of farmland west of Pipestone Town, Minnesota with three Goldwind GW 77 / 1500 (77 meters tall; 1.5 MW capacity) permanent-magnetic direct drive wind turbines. On May 6, 2009, Goldwind signed a contract to invest $10.5 million USD into the 4.5 MW Uilk Wind Farm Project. In addition to Goldwind, property owners, the Uilk brothers, and an undisclosed number of other investors, contributed equity to the project. Goldwind was the turbine manufacturer on the $10 million USD contract, with hopes that the project would allow it to advance in the U.S. wind turbine market. The project used approximately 63% of American-made content on a cost basis. Power generated by the project would then be purchased by Xcel Energy Inc.. The turbines were the first Chinese-manufactured renewable energy equipment to be installed in the United States. The project was also Goldwind's first wind farm project in the United States and first MW-level wind farm project overseas. The turbines were shipped from Tianjin Harbor in China on September 28, 2009. The turbines began operating on January 1, 2010.
Staff comments
1. The Chinese project title is 国家开发银行新疆分行“美国明尼苏达州奥克风场有限责任公司4.5MW”项目. 2. Uilk Wind I, Uilk Wind II, and Uilk Wind III appear to be vehicles for the local property owners of the project, the Uilk brothers, and other investors. 3. AidData has assumed the maturity period was approximately 13 years, as the guarantee period from Goldwind was from 2010 to 2013.