SkyPower Corp. Loses Major Source of Funding As Lehman Goes Bankrupt

SkyPower Corp., a wind and solar company based out of Toronto, has been forced to file for court protection to abate creditors after the company for the large amounts of debt they have accrued. The company, which is over $250 million in debt, has backed out of paying $214 million of the overall total. 

The $214 million was used to purchase a 134 wind turbine fleet for a project scheduled for later down the line. Lehman was backing SkyPower in the venture, but has since gone bankrupt, a victim of the recent recession. Since SkyPower no longer has financial backing from Lehman for the 134 GE turbines, SkyPower as also been left in a large amount of debt.

SkyPower, in order to obtain some quick cash, will now look into selling off some of the assets including unused pipeline, projects that are already operational, and some of the GE wind turbines they have in stock. The proceeds from this liquidation will hopefully appease the companies German lenders and allow SkyPower to continue with its ongoing projects.

One of those projects, a 9 MW solar farm, when finished will be the largest in Canada. The farm is set to be installed near Kingston. Additionally the company holds a twenty year power-purchase contract with the Ontario Power Authority dependent upon a 64.5 MW wind farm being installed in Prince Edward County which sits a couple hours from Toronto to the east. 

Several other projects are retained by the company and scheduled for development, but may not happen if the company can not secure more financing, and expend the debt already accumulated from the purchase of the GE wind turbines.