NEWS

March 10, 2010

E3 Consulting Works on Two Deals of the Year Awards:
Astoria Energy II and GenConn Projects Honored by Project Finance Magazine

DENVER, March 10, 2010—E3 Consulting, LLC (E3), a leading technical business advisor to the energy industry, announced today that it was recognized by Project Finance Magazine for their work as the Independent Engineer on two 2009 Deal of the Year Awards.  The awards were announced in a ceremony on March 4, 2010 in New York City. 

E3 served as the Independent Engineer on the North American Portfolio Power Deal of the Year 2009 awarded for the GenConn joint venture between NRG Energy and United Illuminating in April 2009.  Financing for the deal closed in April 2009 and was led by Royal Bank of Scotland and Union Bank, providing funding for the construction of two peaking power projects, each with 194MW capacity, in Devon and Middletown, Connecticut.   Project Finance singled out the GenConn Project because it was “the first deal in the US market since the onset of the credit crunch and introduced the US bank market a new regulatory framework for power generators, the contract for differences.”  The E3 team was led by Paul Plath, E3’s president; Galyn Land, E3’s vice president of operations, is currently leading construction monitoring for the project.    

E3 also served as the Independent Engineer on the North American Single Asset Power Deal of the Year 2009 awarded to Astoria Energy II power project.  According to Project Finance, this project stood out because it went against prevailing lending trends in 2009, but yet managed to close “113% oversubscribed, despite no signs of a recovery in the bank market.”  The E3 project team was led by Vince Tummarello, the managing director of E3’s New York metro-area office. The team provided technical and financial advice on the 550MW natural gas-fired combined cycle unit and is currently providing construction monitoring services for the Project. 

“We are pleased that Project Finance chose to recognize Astoria Energy II and GenConn. These are complex projects that were made more difficult because of the complicated credit markets,” said Paul Plath.  

E3 has been technical advisor to more than ten project Finance Deals of the Year awards since being formed in 1999. For additional information on these projects or E3 Consulting, please contact Mary Prendergast at 720-833-6344 or mary.prendergast@e3co.com.