From: Mercom Capital Group

Lightsource bp, a global solar project developer, secured a $1.8 billion revolving credit facility and trade finance facility to develop 25 GW of solar by 2025. The funding was led by ten global financial institutions – BNP, SocGen, Santander, Natwest, Lloyds, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto Dominion, and Wells Fargo.

Macquarie Asset Management, a global asset manager, provided €43 million (~$50 million) in debt financing for a concentrated solar power project in Spain owned by Q-Energy, a renewable energy fund manager. The 50 MW capacity parabolic trough solar plant is in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia.

D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) announced the closing of the acquisition of and debt financing for the Arroyo Solar and Storage (Arroyo) project. Arroyo is a 300 MWAC solar and 150 MWAC/600 MWh battery energy storage system facility developed in McKinley County, New Mexico. The project’s first phase is expected to commence operations in June 2022, with full commercial operation anticipated for fall 2022. DESRI acquired the project from the original developer, Centaurus Renewable Energy. Nord/LB led the financing for the acquisition and construction of the project. It included four additional joint lead arrangers: MUFG Union Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), National Bank of Canada (NBC), and Societe Generale.

Pacific Green Technologies, a cleantech solutions provider, announced that it had signed an offer letter from Close Leasing Limited (CLL). CLL will provide debt financing of £23 million (~$31.6 million) to construct a 99.8 MW battery energy storage system in Kent, England. The BESS development, located at Richborough Energy Park, will be developed through the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Pacific Green Energy Storage (UK) Limited. The financing round is expected to close in Q4 2021, while the energization of the energy storage park is scheduled for 2022.

Glennmont Partners, a clean energy fund manager, acquired a 473 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) portfolio in Central and Southern Spain from Grupotec, a solar project developer and EPC contractor. Grupotec will partner with Glennmont on the construction and operations side, utilizing their expertise in building over 1 GW of solar power in the last 14 years, including 650 MW in Spain. Glennmont had Perez Llorca as legal advisers, Everoze as technical advisers, and PWC as tax and finance advisers for the transaction. Glennmont was also supported by Exus Partners, who will support the oversight of the final stages of development. Grupotec had Uría Menéndez as legal advisers, Enertis as technical advisers, Astris Finance, and Augusta & Co as financial advisers.

Gore Street, an energy storage fund, acquired a 57 MW construction-ready energy storage project in Leicester, England. Gore Street is proposing an issue of new ordinary shares to fund its ambitious portfolio expansion plan. The project consists of a 57 MW energy storage system in Leicester, for which all land rights, grid connections, and planning consents have already been secured. The project is currently scheduled to become operational in 2023.

East Point Energy, an energy storage developer, announced the sale of the Dry Bridge Energy Storage project to Dominion Energy Virginia, an electric utility. The 20 MW/ 80 MWh Dry Bridge project is expected to be operational in 2022. Located in Chesterfield County, Dry Bridge will be an essential component of Dominion Energy’s 100% clean energy future.

B Capital Energy Transition Infrastructure SICAV-SIF, a Luxembourg-based fund initiated by B Capital Partners, acquired the Bavarian solar project Reuth, developed by Green City. The project is expected to be commissioned at the beginning of December 2021.

For reports and trackers on funding and M&A transactions in solar, energy storage, smart grid, and efficiency sectors, click here.

Read last week’s project finance brief.