From: Mercom India
IPX Power, an independent power producer, has closed committed financing for the construction and operation of the Darden solar and battery storage projects in Fresno County, California.
The financing includes $4.95 billion of construction debt comprising a $403 million letter of credit facility, a $911 million tax equity bridge loan, a $1.81 billion tax credit transfer bridge loan, and a $1.83 billion construction loan that will convert to a $1.83 billion term loan upon completion, an aggregate $929 million of tax equity commitments, and tax credit purchase agreements for the project’s aggregate $2.13 billion investment tax credits.
Darden is IPX Power’s first project financing since the company’s formation. The project is located on privately owned retired agricultural land in California’s Central Valley. It is expected to generate up to 1.15 GW of solar power and include 4.6 GWh of battery storage. The project is expected to begin commercial operations in 2028.
MUFG Bank, Banco Santander, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Société Générale served as initial coordinating lead arrangers and joint bookrunners.
BNP Paribas, CIBC Capital Markets, CoBank, ACB, HSBC Bank USA, Intesa Sanpaolo, J.P. Morgan, National Bank of Canada, NORD/LB, Royal Bank of Canada, Standard Chartered, Truist Securities, Wells Fargo Securities, and Westpac Banking Corporation served as coordinating lead arrangers. KeyBanc Capital Markets served as joint lead arranger.
MUFG Bank served as administrative agent. Banco Santander served as the green loan arranger. CIBC Capital Markets served as the global hedge coordinator. Wilmington Trust served as collateral agent. J.P. Morgan served as the depositary agent for the debt financing.
J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley provided the tax equity commitment. J.P. Morgan also committed to purchase the portion of the investment tax credits that will not be allocated to the tax equity investors. The purchase commitment is expected to be replaced by tax credit purchase agreements with third-party buyers during construction.
According to Mercom’s recently released Q1 2026 Solar Funding and M&A report, announced large-scale solar project funding increased by 61% in Q1 2026 year-over-year.
In May 2026, Sunraycer Renewables, a developer, owner, and operator of clean energy power sites, closed a $901 million project financing facility to support three solar and battery storage projects in Texas.