Salka, Castlelake sign purchase and sale agreement for California wind farm

Salka LLC has announced the execution of a purchase and sale agreement for an in-development wind farm in the east San Francisco Bay Area called the Summit Wind Project.

The agreement was signed with Castlelake, L.P., a private investment firm, on behalf of the funds it manages. The project will repower a former Altamont Pass wind farm by replacing 569 one-hundred-kilowatt turbines with 27 modern turbines. The project is expected to generate more than 60 percent of its power during peak hours for Bay Area consumers.

Salka CEO Jiddu Tapia said:

"Salka specializes in delivering innovative solutions to unique development and financing challenges that renewable energy projects face today. Repowering the Altamont Pass wind farm will have a profound impact on the Alameda County economy. Not only will the redevelopment process create local jobs, but the energy produced at the site will provide an affordable, dependable way for the east San Francisco Bay Area to meet its expanding power needs for generations to come."

The Summit repowering project received its conditional use permit in January 2016, and broke ground in December 2016, with completion and operation planned for late 2017 or early 2018. Among the chief benefits of the wind farm is its proximity to base load. Located in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area near Livermore, Calif., the planned 55 MW wind farm is just 35 miles outside Oakland and 45 miles outside San Francisco. Once completed with 27 state-of-the-art wind turbines, the wind farm will generate more than 60 percent of its power for the Bay Area during peak hours, including the afternoon and high-demand summer months.

Repowering the wind farm will create approximately 100 jobs and produce enough clean energy on average to power about 29,000 homes per year. The purchase and sale transaction is expected to close in the summer. Salka will continue to manage the development and construction of the project until it achieves commercial operations, at which point funds managed by Castlelake will own and operate the wind farm. The wind farm is Salka's latest renewable energy project but its first wind farm sale.