Recurrent Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar and a utility-scale solar and energy storage project developer, closed project financing for its 134 MW (100 MWac) Liberty Solar project. The project is currently under construction in Liberty County, Texas, and is expected to reach operations in 2024.
Rabobank, Nord LB, and U.S. Bank will provide construction debt, a letter of credit facility, and a term facility totaling $120 million. U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, a subsidiary of U.S. Bank, will provide the tax equity totaling $80 million. Rabobank acted as the Coordinating Lead Arranger and the Joint Lead Arranger. Nord LB and U.S. Bank acted as Joint Lead Arrangers.
Paul de Waard, Executive Director, Rabobank, said, “We are proud to successfully close another project financing with an industry-leading developer like Recurrent Energy and support its continuous growth across the U.S. and around the world. Recurrent Energy has been a valued Rabobank client for nearly a decade and the Liberty project is a perfect example of our partnership and support of the company’s renewable goals, which align perfectly with Rabobank’s commitment to the global energy transition.”
Ismael Guerrero, CEO of Recurrent Energy, said, “Liberty Solar is the second project financing that Recurrent Energy has closed in North America this summer, indicating execution on our strategy to retain greater ownership of projects in select markets. Moreover, Liberty Solar is a strong project in MISO, a growing market for solar energy. We value our long-standing relationship with Rabobank, Nord LB and U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance and we are grateful to reach this milestone together on another project.”
Recurrent previously announced that it had secured a power purchase agreement for 100% of the project’s production capacity via an aggregated virtual power purchase agreement.
CohnReznick Capital and Latham & Watkins advised Recurrent Energy on the transaction. Milbank LLP represented the lenders. Foley & Lardner represented U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2023 Solar Funding and M&A Report, in the first half (1H) of 2023, 116 solar project acquisitions totaling 25.5 GW were announced compared to 148 project acquisitions totaling 37.8 GW in 1H 2022.
IGNIS, a vertically integrated renewable energy company, recently closed on debt financing amounting to €335 million (~$357.47 million) for developing solar projects in Spain. The loan was led by Deutsche Bank, which also acted as the sole underwriter, with the participation of Rabobank, ABN Amro, and Triodos Bank.
