Noble Environmental Windpower's Bliss Wind Park

Noble Environmental Power Inc., a wind developer based in Essex, Conn., recently filed for a $375 million initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. If successful, the company, which is backed by the Canada Pension Fund and JP Morgan, would be the first U.S. power company solely focused on wind to trade on the Naqdaq.

Noble, which has 150 employees and currently operates 282 megawatts (MW) of installed wind capacity, filed the IPO on the Nasdaq under the ticker “NEPI.” With projects currently under development in New York and Texas, the company says it will increase its total installed capacity to 465 MW by the end of 2008.

The latest Noble projects to come online—100- and 80-megawatt (MW) wind parks in New Work’s Clinton County—represent a $360 million investment. GE Energy Financial Services supplied Noble with 188 wind turbines for the projects, which increased New York’s installed wind capacity by 70 percent, according to Noble. The projects will help New York meet an ambitious Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard: Twenty-five percent of the state’s electricity needs to be met by renewable sources by 2013.

As it continues to grow, Noble will face what many wind developers, including privately owned utilities, are facing: a shortage of wind turbines and a need for new transmission lines.