Aug 5 2013
Greenbriar Capital Corp. is pleased to announce that on August 2nd, 2013, it has completed the formal acquisition agreement of the 80 Megawatt Blue Mountain, Utah Wind Energy Project, USA ("Blue Mountain").
Blue Mountain is a fully contracted 80 MW wind project that has a 20-year power purchase agreement with PacifiCorp executed on July 3rd, 2013. The Blue Mountain project includes all discretionary permits, eight (8) individual Land Leases and Option to Purchase Agreements, a fully executed 20-year 80-MW Power Purchase Agreement with PacifiCorp, six (6) years of meteorological data and studies, a completed System Impact Study, completed environmental work, the receipt of seven (7) supply term sheets from top tier wind turbine vendors and a draft financing mandate from a world class financial institution.
The acquisition of Blue Mountain was completed through Greenbriar Capital Corp's wholly owned US subsidiary, Greenbriar Capital Holdco Inc., which signed a definitive membership interest purchase agreement with Champlin Windpower, LLC of Santa Barbara, California. Michael Cutbirth is the president and CEO of Champlin Windpower as well as President and CEO of Champlin / GEI Wind Holdings, LLC and has a longstanding relationship with the management of Greenbriar. Mr. Cutbirth has been in the wind energy industry for 18 years and was a former director of the American Wind Energy Association ("AWEA"). The Champlin companies are actively developing a number of new wind energy projects in the western U.S. and Hawaii.
The Acquisition Agreement has immediately granted Greenbriar, a 50% interest. The Agreement then allows Greenbriar to perform two (2) milestone tasks, which will then increase the ownership interest up to 100%. The initial 50% interest was funded to Greenbriar by way of a 3-year loan to prevent share dilution and bears interest at 10% per year.
The next plan of action for Greenbriar is to execute a Turbine Supply Agreement and sign the mandate agreement with the financial institution to provide up to US $150 million in non-recourse project debt and tax equity.
Upon the mandate execution, Greenbriar will issue a Request for Proposal for an engineering, procurement and construction contractor. Greenbriar expects to begin construction as soon as project financing is complete.
The Blue Mountain Wind Project will create over 100 jobs during construction, offer fulltime green collar jobs during its operation, contribute millions of dollars in taxes during construction and provide the county government with over US $15 million in local property tax over the life of the project. The project will further prevent the release of over four (4) million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere during the life of the project while offering the rate payers of Utah, a steady, secure and reliable source of affordable green energy.
Greenbriar has granted to consultants and employees 200,000 stock options at a price of $2.60 per share, with an expiry date of June 10, 2018 and a further 250,000 stock options at a price of $2.60 per share with an expiry date of July 26, 2018.
Jeff Ciachurski, CEO of Greenbriar states that: "Blue Mountain benefits both the citizens of Utah and the Greenbriar shareholders with this milestone project. The ratepayers of Utah are provided a long-term fixed price, secure, emission free and affordable local energy source while the shareholders of Greenbriar will have 180 Megawatts of renewable energy sales agreements now under contract with only 11 Million shares outstanding.
Mr. Cutbirth, CEO of Champlin Windpower states that: "The management of Greenbriar has an impressive track record of developing wind energy projects over the last several years and creating tremendous value for their shareholders in the process. We are excited about the closing of this transaction and look forward to working with the Greenbriar team on the Blue Mountain and other wind projects and believe there are significant synergies to this strategic acquisition."
About Greenbriar Capital Corp.
Greenbriar Capital Corp is a leading developer of renewable energy and sustainable real estate projects. With long term, high impact, contracted renewable energy sales agreements and key project locations led by a successful industry recognized operating and development team, Greenbriar targets deep value assets directed at accretive shareholder value.
Press release avilable from http://www.prnewswire.com/
Source: Greenbriar Capital Corp.