S&P lowers FPL Energy view to negative

Standard & Poor’s said it affirmed the BB rating on FPL Energy American Wind LLC’s $380 million senior secured amortizing bonds due 2023.

The agency also said it revised the company’s outlook to negative from stable.

The recovery rating remains at 1, indicating 90% to 100% expected default recovery.

The outlook revision stems from the significant drop in wind resource the project underwent over the past two quarters, S&P said.

Wind speeds have remained erratic due to the persistent El Nino weather conditions that have affected parts of the United States.

In the first half of 2015, American Wind’s production dipped by nearly 10% from the base case expectation, the agency said, and availability, at more than 90%, remained slightly lower than expectations.

The project’s operating and maintenance costs also were higher than expected, leading to a debt-service coverage ratio of less than 1x for the 12 months that ended May 2015, S&P said.

The current expectation is that the wind will revert back to historical averages, the agency said, so the long-term base-case forecast remains unchanged from the last review.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.