Calpine Corp. and General Electric Corp.‘s GE Energy Financial Services unit have obtained an $844.5 million credit facility to finance construction of the precedent-setting natural gas-fired 619 MW Russell City Energy Center in the East San Francisco Bay Area town of Hayward, CA. The joint venture power plant, now under construction, was the nation’s first to receive a federal air permit that includes a voluntary limit on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GE and Calpine said the financial facility includes a construction loan that converts to a 10-year term loan when Russell City begins commercial operations in mid-2013. Approved for construction almost a decade ago, the Russell City project struggled with changes and a lack of a long-term sales contract for its output. With GE as a partner, Calpine obtained state approval for a long-term power sales contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in 2009, and obtained a key GHG emission permit from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District last year.

©Copyright 2011Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.