Media Coverage

US Renewables Group picks up inactive facility in California

Renewable Energy Report

October 17, 2005

Los Angeles, California-based US Renewables Group reported October 12 that it had taken steps to restart a dormant geothermal energy facility in California. The company said it had acquired a controlling interest in Bottle Rock Power Corp, whose major asset is a 55MW geothermal power station in the Geysers region, a geothermal hot spot, in Lake County, California.

The facility was originally built and managed by the state Department of Water Resources to meet its own electricity requirements but was closed in 1991 because of a production drop in the Geyers and the abundance at that time of energy in the state. DWR sold the facility to Bottle Rock Power in 2001.

US Renewables plans to renovate and restart the facility within a year and expects to generate about 200,000MWh of electricity per year by the end of 2006, enough power to supply about 25,000 households.

The acquisition follows US Renewables' closing a week earlier of an initial US$80 million as part of its strategy to raise US$250 million in financing. The company plans to invest in renewable energy generation from stationary sources, such as geothermal, biomass and landfill gas, and in clean fuels. US Renewables "addresses an opportunity in the renewable energy market that neither traditional private equity nor venture capital investors currently address," company executives said, through its work in project equity, senior and subordinated debt structures, regulatory compliance and power purchase agreements.

Media Contacts:

Steven Gottlieb
ZENO Group
Tel: (877) 526-0450
steven.gottlieb@zenogroup.com