(Alliance News) - Ecofin US Renewables Infrastructure Trust PLC on Monday said that it has declared a force majeure event with the offtaker of its Texas wind farm project, after a tornado damaged facilities.
Ecofin is a London-based investor in US renewable energy assets. Company shares tumbled 18% to 44.20 pence each in London on Monday morning. They are down 48% over the last 12 months.
Last Wednesday, the firm told investors that its 59.8 megawatt Whirlwind Energy wind farm in Floydada, Texas temporarily ceased operations due to the tornado, which damaged five project-owned transmission poles. There were no casualties or injuries.
However, Ecofin on Monday said it has since been told that American Electric Power Inc's substation in Matador, through which Whirlwind transmits electricity, was severely damaged during the incident.
Subsequently, Whirlwind has been unable to resume operations, which will continue to be the case until the substation is rebuilt. Due to the outage, the company has declared a force majeure event with Whirlwind's offtaker, Austin Energy.
A force majeure clause typically excuses one or both parties from performance of the contract in some way following the occurrence of an event beyond the control of either parties.
Looking forwards, Ecofin said it is now working with Whirlwind's asset and operations managers to create a plan and an expected timetable to remedy the outage. It is also working with its insurance provider to file claims, where applicable, for business interruption and necessary repairs to the damaged project-owned transmission poles.
It expects the outage to have a material short term impact on cash flows. As at March 31, Whirlwind represented 38% of Ecofin's net asset value.
By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News reporter
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