Greenbacker Renewable Energy (GREC), an investment manager and independent power producer, entered into a senior credit agreement of $186.2 million with KeyBank and Fifth Third Bank.
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, an international law firm, acted as an advisor for Greenbacker, while Hampton, Winston & Strawn represented the lenders.
The funding is one of the company’s largest standalone debt financings to date, providing a construction loan facility to build two solar projects located in Yellowstone County, Montana, and Fall River County, South Dakota.
The projects named – MTSun and Fall River make up GREC’s Ponderosa portfolio and are of 80 MWac capacity each. Both assets have long-term power purchase agreements in place with local investment-grade utilities.
“We’re thrilled to partner with KeyBank and Fifth Third Bank on this senior credit agreement to build projects that will drive a clean energy future in a very real way,” said Spencer Mash, CFO of GREC. “Once complete, they’ll deliver cheaper renewable energy to tens of thousands of households across Montana and South Dakota.”
Annual solar energy produced by the pair of utility-scale projects is expected to power over 34,000 homes across the two states while offsetting over 260,000 metric tons of carbon emissions.
“The Ponderosa transaction illustrates our ongoing commitment to grow the renewable energy industry by deploying capital in high-quality assets,” said Gregory Berman, Director, Utilities Power & Renewables at KeyBanc Capital Markets. “This represents our seventh financing with Greenbacker, and we look forward to supporting their continued growth as a leader in the energy transition.”
KeyBank served as administrative agent for the lenders, and KeyBanc Capital Markets and Fifth Third Bank, National Association, acted as joint lead arrangers.
Earlier this month, Low Carbon, a renewable energy investor, raised a £230 million (~$265 million) senior debt facility to construct 1 GW of large-scale renewable energy projects in the UK and the Netherlands.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2022 Solar Funding and M&A Report, announced large-scale project funding in Q2 2022 came to $6.9 billion, a 24% decrease compared to $9 billion in Q1 2022.
