U.S.-based Doral Renewables, a renewable energy development arm of Israel-based Doral Group, secured $392 million project financing for Mammoth North, the first phase of Doral’s Mammoth Solar project.
Mammoth North is located on 4,500 acres in Starke County, Indiana, in the northwestern region of PJM. The project is a ground-mounted single-axis PV project with an installed capacity of 400 MW. Doral is also developing the nearby Mammoth Central and Mammoth South projects which, together with Mammoth North, reach a total capacity of 1.3 GW (ac).
Deutsche Bank, New York Branch acted as sole bookrunner, sole structuring bank, and mandated lead arranger for the financing, which comprises a $157 million construction-to-term loan facility, a $170 million tax equity bridge loan, and a $65 million letter of credit facility.
Bayerische Landesbank, New York Branch, and National Bank of Canada acted as Lead Managers with Banco de Sabadell, Miami Branch, Comerica Bank, a Texas banking association, Intesa Sanpaolo, New York Branch, and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, rounding out the syndicate for the debt and letter of credit facilities.
The closing was completed simultaneously, with Doral’s signing a nearly $175 million tax equity commitment for the project from Bank of America. Marathon Capital Markets acted as a financial advisor for Doral on the transaction.
The project will generate energy and renewable energy certificate revenue through its long-term power purchase agreement with AEP Energy Partners, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, providing AEP’s consumers with clean energy. The project is expected to power approximately 75,000 Midwestern homes once in operation.
“Doral is thrilled to have collaborated with Deutsche Bank to raise this important piece of capital which will enable us to bring Mammoth North to commercial operation as expected in 2023,” said Evan Speece, Chief Financial Officer of Doral Renewables.
In February 2022, Israel-based Migdal Insurance, an insurance company, has agreed to buy a 22.5% stake in Doral Renewables’ 300 MW Mammoth Solar II photovoltaic project in Indiana.
Last month, Green Genius, a renewable energy company, secured PLN 175 million (~$39.5 million) debt financing from Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Limited to construct 66 MW solar projects in Poland. The project is expected to reach commercial operation in early 2023. Sequoia Investment Management Company acted as an investment advisor on behalf of Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Limited.
According to Mercom’s Q1 2022 Solar Funding and M&A report, announced large-scale project funding in Q1 2022 came to $9.1 billion, a 27% increase compared to $7.1 billion in Q4 2021.
