According to local media, “Nevada Geothermal (NGP), the Vancouver, BC.-based developer of geothermal electric power projects, expects to close a $95 million financing with John Hancock Financial Services next month, an industry source tells GER.

NGP plans to tap into part of the facility to refinance a 15-year, $180 million credit facility with a 14 percent interest rate,which it secured in September 2008, at the height of the credit crisis, from the Trust Company of the West (TCW). The funding will also support NGP’s ongoing development of its Faulkner 1 power plant at its Blue Mountain project in Nevada’s Humboldt County.

NGP has already repaid TCW $30 million by tapping into the $57.9 million Department of Energy cash grant it scored last November.

The John Hancock credit facility will substantially cut NGP’s funding cost with pricing on that loan set to hover between 5 percent and 7.5 percent. The loan will be backed by a Department of Energy loan guarantee that John Hancock is in the process of applying for.

NGP’s Faulkner 1 came online last fall and is slated to produce 40 megawatts of power when it reaches full capacity. The facility is backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy, the state power utility. Officials at John Hancock did not return calls.”

Source: Serkadis