Duke Energy Renewables has closed $109m (€91m) in tax equity funding to finance a 75MW portfolio of solar and solar-storage projects.
Goldman Sachs’ Alternative Energy Investing Group provided the tax equity funding.
The investment will be used over 18 months to fund the portfolio of solar and solar-storage projects, which will be developed and constructed by Duke Energy Renewables’ subsidiary REC Solar.
Projects will feature ground-mount and rooftop commercial and industrial projects, as well as community solar projects across Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Texas.
The mix of behind-the-meter and utility-scale installations that will provide power to a wide range of private sector and public sector customers through long-term power purchase agreements, Duke said.
Goldman Sachs’ investment structure, monetising both cash and tax attributes generated by the projects, is used to finance large, distributed portfolios of renewables assets.
Monetising the investment in this way allows Duke Energy Renewables to free up capital to continue to invest in its distributed generation portfolio.
Vivek Kagzi, at Goldman Sachs’ Alternative Energy Investing Group, said: “Our partnership with Duke Energy Renewables demonstrates the benefits of an integrated approach to financing high-quality distributed solar projects at scale.
“By combining the financing of tax and cash attributes into a single product, Goldman Sachs is able to provide sponsors like Duke Energy Renewables with comprehensive and flexible financing solutions tailored to each individual portfolio’s needs.”
Duke Energy Renewables president Chris Fallon added: “Goldman Sachs’ investment will support Duke Energy Renewables’ continued growth in the distributed energy space, which will further our goals of delivering long-term value to customers and investors.
“This is just one more way we’re providing reliable and cost-effective renewable energy to businesses and communities across the United States.”
Duke Energy owns, operates and contracts more than 8000MW of renewables capacity and plans to double that by 2025.