Innergex Renewable Energy has announced the closing construction financing and tax equity commitments for its 225MW Griffin Trail project in north-west Texas.
The US$276.2m (€221.59m) financing has been arranged with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation acting as coordinating lead arranger.
CIBC acted as joint lead arranger, backed by a US$171.4m (€137.53m) tax equity commitment from Wells Fargo to be provided upon the commercial operation date.
Innergex president and chief executive Michel Letellier said: “It was only a few months ago, when the US Production Tax Credits deadlines were extended, that we knew we were in a strong position to bring Griffin Trail forward, and we have since made rapid progress on development and construction.
“Securing construction financing and tax equity commitment for this project is another milestone, and I want to congratulate all Innergex employees who contributed to this significant team effort.”
Work on-site commenced in September with the operations and maintenance building and road construction well underway, and approximately 50% of foundations complete.
A construction agreement was executed with Blattner Energy and a turbine supply agreement was executed for the supply of GE wind turbines totaling 225MW with deliveries starting in January 2021.
Deliveries of long-lead items have started and the construction of the interconnection point is underway by a local transmission provider.
Total construction costs of the Griffin Trail project are projected to amount to US$284.7m (€228.41m) and its commissioning is scheduled in Q3 2021.
The power generated will be fed into the ERCOT transmission grid and sold on the spot market.
In addition, the tax equity commitment made by Wells Fargo includes a partial pay as you go (“Pay-go”) funding arrangement under which, when the actual annual MWh production exceeds a certain production threshold, the tax equity investor is obligated to make a cash contribution (“Pay-go Contribution”) to the Corporation.
Expected Annual Pay-go Contribution for the Griffin Trail project is US$4m (€3.21m).
In total, the project should generate an annual contribution of US$30.7 million (€24.63m) when combining the projected Adjusted EBITDA Proportionate and the Pay-go Contribution.