A $1.3 billion financing package for the Faraday Solar project, a 682.5 MW ground-mounted solar facility in Utah County, Utah, in the U.S., was closed by Excelsior Energy Capital, a renewable energy infrastructure fund focused on middle-market investments in North America.

Excelsior had acquired the project from renewable energy project developers Parasol and Clenera, who previously developed and owned Faraday Solar.

The construction of the Faraday Solar project is in progress and is expected to start operating in Q3 2025. The project has a long-term contract with PacifiCorp to supply renewable energy, which will be allocated to Meta.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Nord/L.B., as lead arrangers, facilitated a loan of $460 million, a tax-exempt bank loan of $300 million, and ancillary facilities worth $250 million.

U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance provided $400 million of tax equity through its solar PTC Partnership.

The Faraday Investment is the biggest single investment made by Excelsior Renewable Energy Investment Fund I (Fund I), the company’s inaugural fund. Fund I is a $540 million infrastructure investment fund focused on investments in mid-sized solar, wind, and battery storage projects. Fund I is fully deployed and comprises 1.9 GW of operational and construction projects delivered across 10 U.S. States.

“The acquisition and financing of the Faraday transaction resulted from an immensely collaborative effort with Parasol and Clenera, Excelsior’s innovative financing approach, and the efforts of our exceptional team. This transaction demonstrates Excelsior’s continued commitment to acquiring superior quality projects from our partners in the renewable energy sector,” said Jason Frooshani, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Excelsior.

According to Mercom Capital Group’s newly released 9M and Q3 2023 Solar Funding and M&A Report, the total global corporate funding in the solar sector during the nine months of 2023, including venture capital investments, public market funding, and debt financing, reached $28.9 billion, a 55% year-over-year increase from $18.7 billion.

At the end of the second quarter of 2023, the U.S. solar industry saw 5.6 GWdc of new capacity installed, increasing 20% year-over-year, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Q3 2023 report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie.