Research Update: Carroll County Energy LLC 'BB' Term Loan Rating Affirmed On Lower Cash Sweep; Recovery Rating '2'

Carroll County Energy LLC (CCE), a natural gas-fired power plant that sells energy and capacity into the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection, is revising the cash flow sweep on its outstanding $429 million term loan (including the $25 million upsize) to 50% from 75%. While this amendment increases refinancing risk, it does not materially affect overall credit quality and as a result, we affirmed our 'BB' rating on CCE's term loan and credit facility. The outlook is stable. We revised our recovery estimate to 70% from 80%, reflecting the higher projected debt levels in a hypothetical default scenario. The '2' recovery rating indicates our expectation for substantial (70%-90%; rounded estimate: 70%) recovery in a default scenario. The stable outlook reflects our

...- Carroll County Energy LLC (CCE), a natural gas-fired power plant that sells energy and capacity into the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection, is revising the cash flow sweep on its outstanding $429 million term loan (including the $25 million upsize) to 50% from 75%. - While this amendment increases refinancing risk, it does not materially affect overall credit quality and as a result, we affirmed our '##' rating on CCE's term loan and credit facility. The outlook is stable. - We revised our recovery estimate to 70% from 80%, reflecting the higher projected debt levels in a hypothetical default scenario. The '2' recovery rating indicates our expectation for substantial (70%-90%; rounded estimate: 70%) recovery in a default scenario. - The stable outlook reflects our expectation that CCE will be able to generate sufficient cashflow to maintain an average DSCR of about 2.1x with a capacity factor in the 80%-85% range over the next five years. We also expect $321 million...

Research Update