Starwood Energy Closes Acquisition of a Partial Ownership Interest in a 100 Megawatt Biomass Power Project in Gainesville, Florida

GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- An investment affiliate of Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC ("Starwood Energy"), an energy infrastructure investment firm, has acquired a partial ownership interest in the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center ("GREC") from Tyr Energy, Inc. GREC is a 100 MW biomass power plant currently under construction in Gainesville, Florida. The acquisition was signed and closed on December 30, 2011. The other ownership stakes in GREC remain unchanged and the original American Renewables development team continues to oversee the construction of GREC.

GREC will sell energy, capacity and environmental attributes to the City of Gainesville, Florida d/b/a Gainesville Regional Utilities ("GRU") under a 30 year power purchase agreement.  GREC began construction in March 2011 and is expected to generate power by late 2013.  GREC is creating approximately 900 direct construction jobs at the peak of construction and once operational, it will create 47 direct permanent jobs at the facility, approximately 160 permanent jobs procuring biomass fuel for the facility and over 500 indirect/induced jobs throughout the region. Once complete, GREC will be among the largest biomass energy facilities in the country, generating clean, renewable power for approximately 70,000 households.

GREC closed on financing in June 2011 with a consortium of investors led by Energy Management, Inc.  Construction debt, which will be converted to term debt, is being provided through a commercial bank facility led by The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. and a group of seven European and US banks.  Equity financing for approximately 40% of the ownership interests is provided by Starwood Energy affiliates and its investors.  The total cost of the facility is approximately $500 million.

"We are very excited to be a part of this important project and the impressive ownership group.  This represents our second investment in a biomass power facility in the last four months and allowed us to capitalize on our expertise to complete the acquisition in a short time frame," said Himanshu Saxena, Senior Vice President of Starwood Energy. Mr. Saxena continued, "We look forward to working with Jim Gordon, CEO of Energy Management Inc. and Frank Getman, CEO of BayCorp Holdings Ltd. to make this a very successful project."

Jim Gordon, CEO of Energy Management, Inc, commented, "We are proud to have the Starwood Energy Group, a well respected investor in high-quality energy infrastructure projects, join us as a member of the GREC equity group. We look forward to completing construction and beginning operations in 2013, bringing jobs and locally-sourced, clean, renewable energy to the citizens of the Gainesville area."

About Starwood Energy Group

STARWOOD ENERGY GROUP GLOBAL, LLC ("Starwood Energy"), an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group Global, LLC ("Starwood Capital"), is a private equity investment firm based in Greenwich, CT, that specializes in energy infrastructure investments.  Founded in 2005, Starwood Energy is an active investor in power generation, renewable energy and high-voltage power transmission projects in North America.  Starwood Energy has built and acquired a portfolio of natural gas fired power generation, a portfolio of high-voltage power transmission projects in various phases of development and operations, and a growing portfolio of renewable energy power generation projects.  More information can be found at www.starwoodenergygroup.com

SOURCE Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC