Centaurus Renewable has 760-MW solar portfolio
John Arnold is sole manager of Centaurus Holdings
Houston —
Centaurus Renewable Energy has filed with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a request for market-based rate authority for its 100-MW Techren I solar facility in Nevada that it says is set to begin operations in November, according to the filing.
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John Arnold, who is the sole manager of Centaurus Holdings, which controls Centaurus Renewable Energy, has amassed a portfolio of nine solar facilities that are under construction, in development or operational. CRE owns all of or 50% of the nine facilities, which have a combined capacity of 760 MW.
According to the October 16 filing with FERC, US Bancorp affiliate Firstar will make a tax equity investment in the Techren I project "prior to the effective date of the tariff," giving Firstar 100% of the project"s passive, non-voting Class A interest, while CRE-Techren I will continue to own 100% of the voting Class B membership interests.
Arnold was a natural gas trader for Enron in the late 1990s and early 2000s and went on to trade the physical and financial energy markets from his Houston office of Centaurus Advisors. He retired in 2012 and launched a foundation with his wife.
Jeff Cohen, a spokesman for the foundation, said in an email Wednesday that Arnold has invested in solar facilities since 2013.
A number of Arnold associates from days at his hedge fund either came to him or were recruited by him for his renewable energy investment group, which raises money from institutional investors.
The 100-MW Techren I facility, located 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas, and the 200-MW Techren II project, which is slated to begin commercial operation in the second quarter of 2019, were purchased by CRE from 174 Power Global, a US affiliate of Korea"s Hanwha Energy.
CRE also recently acquired from 174 Power Global the nearly completed 80-MW Sweetwater, Wyoming, solar qualifying facility that is committed to supplying power to PacifiCorp under a long-term power purchase agreement.
The renewable hedge fund also owns the 72-MW AL Solar A qualifying facility in LaFayette, Alabama, that became commercial earlier this year. That facility supplies Alabama Power under a 28-year PPA.
It also owns Blue Renewable Energy, which owns and operates a 9-MW solar qualifying facility in Marion County, Indiana.
INTO THE CALIFORNIA CENTRAL VALLEY
On October 11, the San Mateo County, California, Community Choice Aggregation agency, Peninsula Clean Energy, signed an exclusive 25-year power purchase agreement with CRE to take 100% of the power from a 200-MW solar facility that CRE and associated companies will build, own and manage in the Central Valley of California near the town of Los Banos. Ground was broken last week on the facility, called Wright Solar.
Farther south in the Central Valley in Five Points, California, near Fresno, CRE owns, according to the FERC filing, the 60-MW Five Points Solar Park. As with many of CRE facilities, the Boise, Idaho-based Clenera manages the project.
The company owns between 50% and 67% stakes in three other solar qualifying facilities in the same area: the 19-MW Westlands Solar farm in Huron, the 20-MW facility in Kettleman, and the 20-MW Frontier facility in Stanislaus County that supplies power to the City of Palo Alto.
-- Jeffrey Ryser, jeffrey.ryser@spglobal.com
-- Edited by Annie Siebert, newsdesk@spglobal.com
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