US renewables provider Terra-Gen has completed financing on the initial 346MW phase of its Edwards Sanborn solar plus storage facility in California.
Financing includes $804m senior secured credit facilities comprising a $400m construction and term loan facility, a $328m tax equity bridge facility, and a $76m construction and revolving letter of credit facility.
JP Morgan is providing the tax equity commitment for the initial phase of the project, with Deutsche Bank leading the construction and term financing.
The project, located in Kern County on land leased from Edwards Air Force Base, will have 1501 megawatt-hours of battery storage.
Mortenson is the full engineering, procurement and construction contractor on both the solar and energy storage scopes with First Solar supplying the solar modules and LG Chem and Samsung supplying the batteries.
The project currently employs more than 500 union workers and will have a peak of 750 workers on-site.
Terra-Gen expects the first 735MWh of battery storage will be coming on-line in the third quarter of 2021 with the balance of this initial phase scheduled to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2022.
Subsequent near-term phases of the project will be financed later this year and come on-line in the second half of 2022 and early 2023.
When complete, the near-term phases of the Edwards Sanborn Solar Storage franchise will comprise 760MW of solar and 2445MWh of energy storage.
Terra-Gen chief executive Jim Pagano said: “This financing allows us to complete the ongoing construction of the first phase of the Edwards Sanborn solar storage facility and help California meet its carbon reduction goals through the deployment of large-scale renewable energy.
“The truly transformative project ensures electricity reliability through the use of stand-alone and collocated energy storage.”
Terra-Gen chief financial officer John O’Connor said: “We value the creativity and innovation that our financing counterparties brought to the table.
“Working collaboratively, we were able to structure and deliver financing on a scale not previously seen for an integrated solar and energy storage project.”
Deutsche Bank is also sole bookrunner and joint lead arranger along with BNP Paribas and ING Capital serving as joint lead arrangers.
Mizuho Bank, CoBank, Kookmin Bank, Rabobank and KeyBank are lead arrangers.