Media Coverage

Fund takes stake in California geothermal

Electric Power Daily

June 9, 2006

A New York-based private equity fund Thursday said it will acquire a "significant," though undisclosed, stake in a 55-MW geothermal power plant in California from US Renewables Group. Financial terms were not released.

The Carlyle/Riverstone Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund I will purchase a stake in Bottle Rock Power, which owns the power station in the Geysers in Lake County, California.

Under the terms of the convertible note and partnership interest purchase agreement, Carlyle/Riverstone said it intends to acquire an ownership stake and fund additional capital through a convertible note. This is one of the first investments from the group's $685 million renewable energy infrastructure fund.

Bottle Rock plans to continue to refurbish the steam field at the facility and plans to restart the plant within the next six months. Before the end of 2007, Bottle Rock expects to produce approximately 260,000 MWh/year of baseload renewable power for sale to Pacific Gas & Electric under a long-term power purchase agreement.

The Bottle Rock facility was originally constructed, owned and operated by the California Department of Water Resources, which closed the facility in 1990 and subsequently sold it to several investors in 2001 that formed Bottle Rock. USRG purchased a majority stake in Bottle Rock in late 2005.

US Renewables Group manages a series of private equity funds that acquire, develop and operate renewable energy projects. Riverstone Holdings and The Carlyle Group are the co-general partners of Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Funds.

Copyright 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc.

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Steven Gottlieb
ZENO Group
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