Spearmint Energy, a utility-scale battery storage project developer, secured more than $250 million in financing for the construction and development of two 100 MW/200 MWh Tierra Seca and Seven Flags battery energy storage projects located in Del Rio and Laredo, respectively, within the Texas ERCOT power market.
The company also announced that it has begun construction of the projects.
The financing package includes $59 million in construction-to-term loan facilities, $95 million in tax equity bridge loan facilities, and $98 million in tax equity commitments.
Manulife provided the construction-to-term loan, East West Bank and Investec provided the tax equity bridge loan, and Sugar Creek Capital provided the tax equity commitment.
Paul Hastings acted as legal counsel to Spearmint, Day Pitney advised Manulife, Milbank represented East West Bank and Investec, and Leverage Law Group advised Sugar Creek.
Both projects are currently under construction by M.A. Mortenson Company, a power engineering, procurement, and construction contractor. Both projects will utilize Sungrow Power Supply’s PowerTitan 2.0 energy storage platform.
Once operational, the projects will add more than 200 MW/400 MWh of storage capacity to the ERCOT grid.
Andrew Waranch, Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Spearmint, commented, “We are thrilled to secure this financing for Tierra Seca and Seven Flags, which demonstrates the confidence world-class investors have in Spearmint’s ability to develop and efficiently operate grid-scale energy storage infrastructure. As rapidly increasing power demand continues to pressure grid stability, we are pleased to accelerate the development of these two projects to facilitate increased energy availability in ERCOT.”
According to Mercom’s Annual and Q4 2024 Funding and M&A Report for Energy Storage and Smart Grid, announced energy storage project funding in 2024 increased 53% year-over-year.
Last month, Equis Australia (Equis), a battery storage project developer, announced the closing of an AUD 260 million (~$163 million) non-recourse senior debt funding package for the 250 MW/500 MWh Calala Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) located in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia. Westpac, Societe Generale, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. provided the financing.
