First Wind files for public offering

First Wind filed for a $450 million initial public offering last Thursday, backed by Credit Suisse Securities; Goldman, Sachs; and JPMorgan Chase.

The company requested with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell Class A shares under the ticker symbol "WNDY" on the Nasdaq exchange. It did not describe a price per share or total number of shares.

First Wind says it has 92 megawatts of wind farms operating in New York, Hawaii, and Maine, with another 182 megawatts being built. The company's Web site describes 13 ongoing projects in those states, as well as in Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Canada. Its registration statement describes contracts for turbines that could generate more than 1,300 megawatts by 2013.

In May, First Wind changed to its current name from UPC Wind, which launched in 2002.

In April, the company inked an agreement with the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to jointly study the storage of wind energy and integration with the Hawaiian utility grid on Maui.

Many venture capital firms, whose funding has either been flatlining or falling lately, are reportedly betting that green-tech companies will lead the market for IPOs out of its weak state within the next couple of years.

GT Solar is the second solar company to go public this year, following the IPO of Real Goods.