Recurrent Energy, the renewable power development arm of solar manufacturer Canadian Solar, has reached commercial operation of its 100MW solar PV project in Texas, US.
An aggregated virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Liberty Solar project was secured last year with several offtakers, including design software firm Autodesk, biotechnology company Biogen, chemical manufacturer EMD Electronics and e-commerce company Wayfair.
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Funding for the project was secured last year with a construction debt of US$120 million and a US$80 million tax equity. Dutch bank Rabobank, German investor Nord LB and US Bank provided the construction debt, while a US Bank subsidiary, US Bancorp Impact Finance provided the tax equity.
Although built in Houston, Texas, the project is part of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) grid and not ERCOT, the transmission grid and wholesale market operator which manages around 90% of the state’s electricity.
Ismael Guerrero, CEO of Recurrent Energy, said: “Liberty Solar is a fantastic project that expands Recurrent Energy’s project ownership in MISO. We are thrilled to complete this project on time and on budget in support of the renewable energy goals of our customers.”
With the commercial operation of the Liberty Solar project, the renewables developer has a portfolio of 11GW of solar PV capacity operational and 3.7GWh of energy storage globally. Meanwhile, its development portfolio sits at 26GW for solar PV and 56GWh for energy storage, a development pipeline that secured US$500 million financing earlier this year, which was secured by an investment with asset manager BlackRock. The financing was completed in two phases, with the second financing payment completed earlier this month.
