Lehman Brothers bankruptcy drags down SkyPower
Toronto-based wind and solar developer SkyPower Corp. filed for court protection from creditors last week because it simply couldn’t service its massive debt. The company is more than $250 million in debt, and it has defaulted on a $214 million chunk of that. The money was used to purchase 134 GE wind turbines for future projects, and Lehman — as majority owner — had been helping SkyPower financially. But after the investment banking giant went bankrupt, that support faded and SkyPower was left in a tough spot. The company is now hoping to orchestrate a sale of its assets — i.e. its development pipeline, its existing operational projects, and its stockpile of wind turbines — so it can satisify its German lender and continue on its development path.
Let’s hope the company can work it out. SkyPower is almost finished building a 9 megawatt solar farm north of Kingston that, when complete, will be the biggest in Canada. It also recently won a 20-year power-purchase contract with the Ontario Power Authority for a planned 64.5 megawatt wind farm in Prince Edward County, a couple hours east of Toronto. The company has a number of other solar and wind projects at various stages of development. It would be a shame to see these projects affected.
Tags: Lehman Brothers, Skypower
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Why would you say “Let’s hope the company can work it out” when you talk of a Company that dealt with a bankrupt lender who brought down Wall street and basically caused a huge recession world wide and at the time of the bankruptcy SkyPower claimed that Lehman Bros’s failure had nothing to do with their company. Now SkyPower blames Lehman Bros for their own failure! Which comment is correct?
Do you have something to lose with SkyPower’s failure? Why are you so Pro-Wind?? Have you talked to the people in Western Ontario who have been forced to move out of their homes due to the damage Wind Turbines have had had on their Health?
Obviously you’ve hooked your wagon to a losing horse and basically if you don’t have a researched opinion to share with readers then you shouldn’t be able to write for a publicly distributed newspaper like the Toronto Star until you do.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Wind companies require outside sources of financing and are desperate for new funding sources. More risks will be taken and more bankruptcies can be expected as guaranteed returns are limited to government incentives. Without added value what investor wants to stay with a high risk business where expected production cannot be guaranteed and is on average at less than 20% capacity? It may be more profitable to develop, sell assets and move on. Ontario is better off without companies like Skypower. It is too bad the bankruptcy will have outside casualties only to see another company or Skypower with a new name take its place. How long before wind companies become no longer viable to flip? What happens when the hype associated with wind wears off?
August 19th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Hi Tyler!
I read all you stuff on alternative energy & I am aware the Star is pro wind and one of your subsidiaries sits on the board of a wind developer, hence your position. You should publish that fact and how objective your journalism is, put that the start of each article you write.
I could live with turbines in industrial area of big cities so they can keep the lights on and hope they can afford this expensive power. Rural Ontario shudn’t have to be devastated so T.O. can swallow up the pittance of power generated. Put a 60 story turbine on the Star plant off the 400 for starters. Pay the .85 per kwhr and see what that does to the bottom line. Only print when the wind is blowing and see how many subscribers can afford your paper, explain the layoffs to your employees.
This whole wind thing is a disaster world wide supported by the UN, & WHO with millions to be made at the expense of everyone and no coal plants closed.
Al
August 19th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Whoa bud! harsh…
Why wouldn’t people want them to work it out? There is no benefit to having a partially completed solar facility. Same with EarthFirst and their Dokie wind farm in BC. What is the benefit to local communities of having a partially completed power generating facility?
Regarding the health issues, arguably the effects are still uncertain. But if people are having to move from their homes, then something will eventually have to be done (i.e. gov of ontario’s proposed changes to have turbines min. 550m from homes). Wind is still a new technology and certainly some issues may need to be addressed.
But I would have to disagree that wind (and more broadly) the clean energy movement is a losing horse. A pro-environmental culture will improve the air we breath, the land we live on and the water we drink. How can you not hope that the horse is a winner? If not for yourself, then for your children and so on…?
and when you say this… “Why would you say “Let’s hope the company can work it out” when you talk of a Company that dealt with a bankrupt lender who brought down Wall street and basically caused a huge recession world wide” … are you trolling? because this statement makes little sense for obvious reasons…
Anyway… Cheers and Quixote, I hope you have a better day tomorrow bud
August 19th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
[...] Who wants SkyPower? SkyPower filed for bankruptcy protection last week. Hat tip [...]
August 19th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
You need to take a course in logic, Quixote, because the first paragraph of your post makes absolutely zero sense.
Yes, I like wind power — you got me. But I suppose if I was anti-wind I would also be a biased reporter, right? Would you be calling me out then? Not likely, because it would serve your purpose. BTW: I support wind power but don’t support all wind projects, unlike your apparent wind absolutely sucks position.
Please keep the conspiracy theories to a minimum.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Health problems from Wind Turbines? Are you nuts! And you talk about doing research- check out the greatly increased health problems, especially in urban areas, from due to coal and ICE emissions over the last few decades. If health is really your concern, how could you not favor renewable energies? And while I personally think that Solar will become the big provider of renewable energy in the future, others like Wind, Wave and Geothermal will still contribute, depending on the area, and thus need to be developed- yes it is more expensive now, but will be cheaper in the long run, especially in terms of health costs. And even in terms of real costs for the energy itself, the difference between renewables and even coal will continue shrink, even as it already has over the last couple of decades.
As for Tyler declaring a Star Subsidiary’s connection to a Wind company (?)- even noting this on one of his Star articles would be a stretch to expect- but certainly is out of line for his personal Blog. Besides, if you have read all of his articles, I think it is safe to assume his passion for renewables does not find it’s source in some misguided, corporate loyalty as you imply.
August 20th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
(ARRGGHH- really need and, er, an edit feature for Blog posts- my initial grammar is atrocious!)
August 22nd, 2009 at 8:19 am
Small-scale solar is out beating the country-side for suitable land to lease to build mini 10kW solar units. I was approached yesterday to buy one installed for $100,000, or alternatively lease out land at $500/acre.
The system is supposed to pay for itself within 6 or 7 years. At $.82/kW under the FIT program, they project a return of 15% on investment over 20 years.
???
August 24th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Prejudice beats observation and logic for the likes of Quixote and Al.
Wind turbines aren’t like emergency generators to be stuck somewhere convenient, they are installed where the wind is proven to blow sufficiently. Southern and central Ontario’s wind regime has about a 30+% capacity factor. i.e. it produces power over a year’s cycle at about 1/3 of the name plate capacity. This is what was assumed in the business feasibility exercise.
The second criterion has to do with exporting the power to the big consuming blocks (aka mostly to the Golden triangle). This needs major power lines with the unused capacity to carry the power through a grid with a mix of power sources to draw from.
Lastly, those who don’t get it say that coal, hydro and nukes are the cheapest. This stems from comparing power from old depreciated assets while ignoring the side effects of the processes and their downsides. Just wait for the real costs of the next generation of nukes (already on hold and this doesn’t include waste disposal), the actual cost and timing of the new tunnel at Niagara Falls, and the full health and environmental impact from the coal fired power stations to be spelled out. OMA says 700 deaths / year and a few hundred thousand extra medical cases can be linked. what’s your value for a life and permanent damage these days?
Lecourt
August 25th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
It’s a shame that so many wind opponents in Ontario (read Quixote and Al) won’t call a spade a spade. Either (a) they don’t like the looks of turbines and don’t want to have to stare at them daily, which is called NIMBYism and is fair enough IMO, or (b) they have some form of deep-seated ideological opposition for no other reason than the fact that it’s green. If wind opponents put their cards on the table we could have a real debate about this, but the fact that they couch their arguments in unsubstantiated claims about health impacts or “rural destruction” (whatever that means) completely discredits them. Fellas: if you want to be taken seriously, you’re going to have to produce proof of what you claim. Peer-reviewed studies, government reports, etc. Unless and until you’re able to come to the table with real evidence that large wind has substantial deleterious impacts on human health, local communities and the local fauna, no one is going to take you seriously and you’re going to remain, in web parlance, trolls.
Now, more to the point, what I find disturbing here is that the OPA awarded SkyPower wind contracts knowing that their financial situation was precarious. Of course it’s nice when the local guy gets a go at it, but in my opinion, given past problems in getting wind projects completed on schedule in Ontario, execution capabilities should rank at the top of the list for the OPA when giving out these contracts. Yet more delays and cancellations of renewable energy projects is not good for Ontario, especially when there are companies interested in investing in the province that can actually get the job done.
August 27th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Just another example of Lehman’s tentacles. Paulson didn’t just let one company go bankrupt, he brought financial chaos to the world.
Joseph Tibman, Author “The Murder of Lehman Brothers”
josephtibman.bookpress.com