Clearway Energy has signed Constellation Energy as the buyer for Dan's Mountain, a 55 MW wind farm in Allegany County, Maryland. On the same day it closed $174 million of construction financing for the project from three banks. Set against the project's stated $180 million investment, the financing looks almost large enough to build the whole farm. The structure of the package explains why that comparison needs care.
Key takeaways
- Clearway Energy signed a power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy for the 55 MW Dan's Mountain wind farm in Allegany County, Maryland, announced on 18 April 2024.
- Clearway Energy Group closed $174 million in construction financing for Dan's Mountain from Societe Generale, Natixis and ANZ, made up of construction loans and letters of credit.
- Dan's Mountain is a $180 million investment in Western Maryland, with turbines supplied by GE Vernova and construction led by White Construction, a MasTec Renewables company.
- Dan's Mountain is described as the first new onshore wind farm in Maryland in nearly 10 years and is expected to increase the state's wind generating capacity by nearly 30 percent.
- Enerdatics records six onshore wind PPAs in the PJM market announced in 2024, including Dan's Mountain, and none of them discloses a tariff.
Why does the Constellation contract come first?
Because the financing depends on it. The financing record states that Dan's Mountain is fully contracted under a long-term power purchase agreement with Constellation. A power purchase agreement is a contract under which a buyer agrees to take a project's output, usually at an agreed price, for a set number of years. For a lender, a fully contracted project means the revenue that repays the loan is already committed by a named counterparty.
The two announcements landed on the same day, which is the usual order of events for a project at this stage: the buyer is signed, and the banks lend against that buyer. Leap does not record the length of the Constellation contract or its price, so the term the banks are underwriting is not public.
Leap places the project in PJM, the wholesale power market that covers Maryland and much of the mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Constellation is listed as an IPP or utility offtaker rather than a corporate end user.
How close does $174 million come to the full build cost?
On paper, very close. Dividing $174 million by the $180 million investment gives about 97 percent, and $174 million across 55 MW is about $3.16 million per MW, against an investment of about $3.27 million per MW.
The headline ratio overstates the leverage, though. The financing package consists of construction loans and letters of credit. A letter of credit is a bank guarantee that a borrower can call on to meet obligations, such as security owed to a grid operator or a contractor, and it is not necessarily drawn as cash. The record does not split the $174 million between the two, so the share of the build funded by drawn loans is lower than 97 percent by an amount that is not disclosed.
A comparable project in the same market shows how such packages are usually built. Competitive Power Ventures secured a $274 million debt package in August 2024 for Rogue's Wind, a 114 MW project in Pennsylvania, also in PJM. That package combined an $89 million construction loan, $28 million of ancillary credit facilities and a $157 million bridge loan for tax equity. Rogue's Wind has an estimated cost of $365 million, or about $3.20 million per MW, very close to Dan's Mountain's $3.27 million. Its debt package covers about 75 percent of that cost, and most of it is a bridge to tax equity rather than permanent debt.
Who is behind the build?
Three banks and two industrial partners. Societe Generale, Natixis and ANZ provided the financing. Natixis also lent Invenergy $1.27 billion in March 2024 for four contracted US wind and solar projects, so Dan's Mountain was not its only contracted US wind exposure that spring. GE Vernova supplies the turbines and White Construction, part of MasTec Renewables, leads construction.
The site carries its own story. Part of the project will be built on former coal strip mining land, and Clearway expects it to generate tens of millions in tax revenue for the local community. Clearway also launched a community benefit fund that activates in late 2024, when the project reaches commercial operation. It is modelled on programmes at Clearway Energy Group's Black Rock and Pinnacle wind projects in West Virginia, which together have provided more than $400,000 to local initiatives since 2011.
Enerdatics' data shows 13 US wind financings announced in 2024. Five are debt, worth $3.54 billion combined, but two of those five are large facilities for HASI and Invenergy and one, a back-leverage loan for Scout Clean Energy's Bitter Ridge wind farm, has no disclosed amount. That leaves Dan's Mountain at $174 million and Rogue's Wind at $274 million as the only priced single-project construction debt packages for US wind that year, and both sit in PJM. On the contract side, Enerdatics records six onshore wind PPAs in PJM in 2024. None discloses a tariff, and only the two Armenia Mountain contracts disclose a duration, of seven years each.
What does the deal signal for wind in PJM?
It signals that new onshore wind in the eastern US is being financed one contracted project at a time, and in small numbers. Two priced construction packages in a year, both in PJM and both under 120 MW, is a thin base. Dan's Mountain's description as Maryland's first new onshore wind farm in nearly a decade says the same thing from a different angle.
It also shows how little of the economics is public. The buyer is known and the debt is known, but the contract price and term are not, and neither are those of the other PJM onshore wind PPAs recorded that year. Lenders are clearly comfortable with the Constellation contract. Outside observers have to infer its strength from the size of the financing it supports.
For Maryland, a 55 MW project that adds close to 30 percent to state wind capacity shows how small the existing base is. For lenders, Dan's Mountain and Rogue's Wind together suggest that build costs of a little over $3 million per MW are the reference point for eastern onshore wind in 2024.
Frequently asked questions
Who is buying the power from Dan's Mountain wind farm? Constellation Energy signed a power purchase agreement with Clearway Energy for the 55 MW Dan's Mountain wind farm, announced on 18 April 2024. The project is fully contracted under a long-term PPA with Constellation.
How much financing did Clearway raise for Dan's Mountain? Clearway Energy Group closed $174 million in construction financing from Societe Generale, Natixis and ANZ. The package consists of construction loans and letters of credit.
Where is Dan's Mountain and what makes it notable? Dan's Mountain is in Allegany County, Maryland. It is described as the first new onshore wind farm in Maryland in nearly 10 years, and part of it is being built on former coal strip mining land.
Ready to get deal-ready answers in seconds? Try Enerdatics Leap AI and access verified intelligence across M&A, financings, PPAs, projects, and energy market developments through natural language.
.jpeg)
