dump, page-19

New CEO Michael Larkin quoted on the day he took over from Green.....that business model is fine/he likes the model. Sure it's a world wide credit crunch, so, as per their disclosure, they have to deleverage to some degree.

There must be ramifications for MCGrann, West....if the company does get through this period.


Read story below.....they may have up to $3 billion worth of wind generation assets in the USA (my comment)....(where as , currently discussion has focused on joint sale of Portuguese Enersis).......but story better explains the major degree of their wind assets in USA.

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http://earth2tech.com/2008/09/17/boones-inspiration-babcock-brown-expands-texas-wind/


Boone’s Inspiration: Babcock & Brown Expands Texas Wind
Written by Craig RubensNo CommentsPosted September 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am in Energy,Hitlines,Yahoo! BuzzWhen T.

Boone Pickens has touted wind as the way of the future, he has referred to the Sweetwater Wind Farm as a great model that shows “what can happen up through the wind corridor.” The Sweetwater farm, at 585 megawatts, is one of the largest in the country and is owned and operated by Babcock & Brown, an Australian investment firm and wind energy vet. But B&B has plans for 1,000 megawatts of new wind energy capacity in west Texas, which could give Pickens a run for the world’s largest wind farm — just yesterday, B&B announced it had finalized financing and started construction on a 79.5 megawatt Majestic Wind Farm near Panhandle, Texas.


While Pickens has spent millions buying headlines for his wind-powered Pickens Plan, B&B has quite a head-start. The company currently has five wind farms under construction, three of which are in Texas, with a total of 567.5 megawatts of capacity and a price tag of over $1 billion. When those projects are completed, B&B will own or manage 25 wind farms in the U.S. with a capacity of over 2,000 megawatts. The Majestic farm, scheduled for completion this year, is just down the road from Picken’s proposed 4,000 megawatt farm in Pampa, Texas. Will the farms share transmission access?

Both Pickens and B&B have been working with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) — the body in charge of figuring how to connect the rich wind energy resources of west Texas to the power-thirsty urban centers in the east. Based on ERCOT’s report, the Public Utility Commission of Texas has selected a plan that is estimated to cost $4.93 billion and will accommodate 18,456 megawatts of wind power, plenty of space for many wind developers.

Now PUC is reviewing bids from transmission companies. B&B’s affiliate Tejas Transmission has proposed to plan, finance and construct approximately $1 billion worth of transmission lines. Pickens, meanwhile, has been pulling political strings for his $2 billion transmission proposal bundled with a $1.5 billion water pipeline.

B&B has already secured grid access for the Majestic projects on the existing SPP transmission grid to supply power to the Panhandle region. The company says that development of the 1,000 megawatt Panhandle Wind Project is ongoing and plans to have it coincide with the ERCOT transmission project. PUC is expected to designate transmission providers by late 2008.

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and:


HOUSTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Babcock & Brown, a leader in wind energy development, operation and maintenance, today announced the closing of financing and commencement of construction of its 79.5 megawatt (MW) Majestic Wind Farm near Panhandle, Texas, northeast of Amarillo. The project is expected to finish construction and reach full commercial operation before the end of 2008.
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Hold on......did the story from last week say closing of financing ("new".....must be a misprint, because our AUSTRALIAN financial journalist, say this 20 year old AUSTRALIAN company is finished/business model does not work/all over.

Well I almost hope for their sake, they are right....because at least in the case of Terry McGrann, then that should be his career.

I have sent a copy of this post to Mr McGrann.