Texas wind farms sue Citigroup over fees from winter storm By Reuters 

By Liz Hampton

(Reuters) – A Canadian renewable power agency on Wednesday sued Citigroup Inc (NYSE:) for rejecting power majeure declarations throughout a February winter storm and billing it over $100 million for alternative energy, in keeping with lawsuits filed in a Texas state courtroom.

Shannon Wind and Flat Prime Wind, subsidiaries of Innergex Renewable Power Inc, function North Texas wind farms that halted their wind generators throughout an arctic deep freeze. Each had agreements to bodily ship energy to Citi Power, a unit of Citigroup Inc, at fastened costs.

Unusually frigid temperatures knocked out practically half of the state’s energy crops in mid-February, leaving 4.5 million folks with out warmth or mild for days and bankrupting no less than three corporations as a consequence of excessive wholesale energy costs.

The wind companies, partly owned by Starwood Power Group World and BlackRock Inc (NYSE:), respectively, declared power majeure after their generators froze. However, their lawsuits in Harris County District Courtroom claimed, Citi ignored the declarations and invoiced them for electrical energy it purchased at inflated costs.

Citi declined to remark, and Starwood didn’t have a direct remark. BlackRock and Innergex didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Citi billed Shannon Wind for $39.5 million for 4 days of electrical energy, and billed Flat Prime Wind for $79.3 million for seven days of electrical energy, in keeping with the fits filed in Harris County District Courtroom, Houston.

The invoices characterize greater than their projected revenues for your entire 12 months, the lawsuits stated, claiming Citi Power “improperly defaulted,” and is poised to foreclose on each tasks.

The lawsuits requested the courtroom to stop Citi Group from taking additional motion after the wind corporations had been suggested that they’ve till Friday to pay their invoices.

Citi billed for alternative energy at $9,000 per megawatt hour, versus the roughly $22 to $26 per megawatt hour beneath their contracts.