Ex-Im Bank finances Honduras turbine exports

Ex-Im Bank finances Honduras turbine exports    The U.S. Export-Import Bank will provide project financing to Gamesa Wind US, a wind-turbine manufacturer based in Langhorne, Pa., which will export equipment and services for the Cerro de Hula Wind Farm, the first utility-scale wind project in Honduras.
   Ex-Im Bank’s $159 million direct loan to the project sponsor, Energia Eolica de Honduras S.A., will finance its purchase of 51 Gamesa G87 2-megawatt wind turbines for the 102-megawatt wind farm, which will be the largest in Central America. It is the second major wind farm to be supported by Ex-Im Bank in fiscal year 2010 and the bank’s first wind project in Central America.
   The wind farm will be located 20 kilometers south of the capital city of Tegucigalpa in the municipalities of Santa Ana and San Buenaventura. When operational, the wind farm will be Honduras' fourth-largest power generator, producing about 6 percent of the country’s power.
   The wind turbines will be manufactured at Gamesa’s Pennsylvania manufacturing facilities using generators supplied by ABB Power T & D Co. Inc. in Bland, Va.; blades by LM Glassfiber Inc. in Grand Forks, N.D., and associated equipment and services from other U.S. suppliers.
   Gamesa Wind US is a subsidiary of the Spanish wind-energy company.