Bulletin: Panoche And Crockett Power Project Finance Ratings Not Immediately Affected By PG&E Corp. Downgrade, CreditWatch Listing

SAN FRANCISCO (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 23, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said that its one-notch downgrade on Feb. 22, 2018, and continued CreditWatch listing with negative implications for the ratings on PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas&Electric Co. have no immediate impact on California power project financings Crockett Cogeneration L.P. (BB+/Negative/--) and Panoche Energy Center LLC (BB/Stable/--). Both projects rely on the utility to purchase all the electricity they produce under long-term power contracts. We view Pacific Gas&Electric as an irreplaceable counterparty for each project. As a result, the ratings on the projects could be lowered if the utility is downgraded below the ratings on the projects. But with three notches between the project rating on Crockett

...SAN FRANCISCO (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 23, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said that its one-notch downgrade on Feb. 22, 2018, and continued CreditWatch listing with negative implications for the ratings on PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. have no immediate impact on California power project financings Crockett Cogeneration L.P. (##+/Negative/--) and Panoche Energy Center LLC (##/Stable/--). Both projects rely on the utility to purchase all the electricity they produce under long-term power contracts. We view Pacific Gas & Electric as an irreplaceable counterparty for each project. As a result, the ratings on the projects could be lowered if the utility is downgraded below the ratings on the projects. But with three notches between the project rating on Crockett Cogeneration L.P. and the rating on the utility, and four notches for Panoche Energy Center, there is sufficient cushion between the projects' credit profiles to sustain additional downgrades of PG&E without triggering...

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