Independent power producer (IPP) Greenbacker Renewable Energy has secured US$950 million in aggregate financing to support the acquisition, construction and operation of a 500MWac solar PV power plant in the state of New York, US.
The Cider solar PV plant, as it has been named, was acquired from US renewable energy developer Hecate Energy following a development partnership in 2021 and will be located in Genesee County, to the west of the state near the border with Canada. Once completed, the Cider PV plant will be the largest in the state, Greenbacker claims.
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The project was awarded contracts under the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) 2023 Tier 1 Renewable Energy Standard solicitation last year.
Greenbacker’s financing comes from several agreements. The first is a US$81 million development loan secured from asset manager Voya Investment Management. The loan is set to support Cider’s late-stage development, preliminary construction activities, and equipment procurement.
The IPP also confirmed that it had closed a US$869 million financing composed of a construction-to-term loan, a tax equity bridge loan and letters of credit.
Six coordinating lead arrangers, including MUFG, KeyBanc Capital Markets, ING Capital LLC, Intesa Sanpaolo’s New York branch, Societe Generale and Wells Fargo, collectively led the financing.
Collectively, this comes to just short of US$1 billion in finance raised for the Cider project and represents Greenbacker’s largest project financing to date.
Charles Wheeler, CEO of Greenbacker, said the project financing is a “substantial achievement” with collaboration at the heart of the development.
“This substantial achievement—the result of successful collaboration across a group of top-tier institutions, including our long-time development partner Hecate—will create hundreds of green jobs, deliver affordable clean power, and help continue to build a sustainable future for New Yorkers,” Wheeler said.
