A round-up of the latest news from the US solar market, featuring project financing from Cypress Creek and DE Shaw, SolarEdge project launches and solar loan securitisations from Sunnova and Mosaic.
Cypress Creek secures financing for 270MW Texas plant
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20 October: Solar and storage developer Cypress Creek Renewables has closed financing on the company’s largest PV plant to date, a 270MW install in Texas.
Cypress Creek will be the long-term owner and operator of the Shakes solar project, which is currently under construction and is expected to reach commercial operation in the second half of 2022.
A Morgan Stanley subsidiary is the tax equity provider and Nord/LB, Rabobank, Helaba and National Bank of Canada provided the project finance debt.
The output and renewable energy credits generated by Shakes solar have been sold to Axpo US, an affiliate of energy trader Axpo Solutions.
Cypress Creek has to date developed 1.38GW of solar in Texas. It was announced in July that private equity firm EQT secured a deal to acquire the developer from investment firms HPS Investment Partners and Temasek.
DE Shaw closes financing for Michigan project
20 October: Solar developer and operator D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments has closed debt and tax equity financing for a 149MWac PV project in Michigan.
The River Fork plant has been developed by Ranger Power and has a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for 100MWac with utility Consumers Energy and a 25-year PPA for 49MWac with DTE Energy.
Financing for the construction of the project was led by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and included City National Bank, National Bank of Canada, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and The Korea Development Bank, alongside a commitment for tax equity financing from Bank of America.
According to Ranger Power, the facility will feature more than 500,000 modules equipped with single-axis trackers.
Swinerton Renewable Energy will be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the plant, while SOLV will provide operations and maintenance services.
SolarEdge launches residential battery and inverter in North America
20 October: Inverter manufacturer SolarEdge Technologies has launched both its Energy Bank residential battery and its Energy Hub inverter models in North America.
The DC-coupled battery system provides 9.7kWh of backup power and can connect with up to eight additional batteries, delivering up to 87kWh of backup capacity.
The battery also connects wirelessly with the Energy Hub inverter models, ranging from 7.6kW up to 11.4kW PV power and 10.3kW backup power. SolarEdge said the inverters simplify installations by reducing the need for main panel upgrades.
Sunnova and Mosaic progress with solar loan securitisations
20 October: Both residential solar installer Sunnova and financing platform Mosaic made solar loan securitisation announcements yesterday.
Sunnova has priced a US$155.8 million securitisation of residential solar and battery loan agreements that consists of US$68.4 million in AA- (sf) rated 2.03% notes, US$55.9 million in A- (sf) rated 2.33% notes and US$31.5 million in BBB- (sf) rated 2.63% notes.
The notes are backed by a portfolio of 3,766 solar rooftop systems across more than 21 states and territories, with the transaction expected to close by 26 October 2021.
Mosaic, meanwhile, closed a US$221 million solar loan securitisation, which included 21 unique investors and “set another industry record for low cost of funds on bonds”, the company said.
