Developer Innergex Renewable Energy has closed construction financing and a tax equity commitment for the 328MW Foard City wind project, in the US state of Texas.
The $290.9m financing for the wind farm, in Foard County, has been arranged with lenders Santander, MUFG, Zions Bancorp and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Foard City is expected to enter commercial operation in the autumn of this year and 94 turbines out of the 130 have been approved so far.
Innergex expects to receive approval of a layout of 327.6MW for the project from the Federal Aviation Administration in the coming months.
Construction costs should amount to $384.8m.
The deal is backed by a $275m tax equity commitment from Berkshire Hathaway Energy and a $23.3m seven-year term loan facility with a 10-year amortization period, the lenders will provide upon the commercial operation date.
Innergex chief executive Michel Letellier said: “Foard City is the largest wind farm project ever built by Innergex and, with the Phoebe solar project under construction, will add almost 600MW of new installed capacity in the US by the end of 2019.
“The construction activities are progressing well on site and Innergex is excited to secure financings which optimize the capital structure in a way that creates maximum value for our shareholders.”
Projected revenues and projected adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the first full year of operation are $20.1m and $10.1m respectively.
In addition, Foard City will benefit from 100% of US production tax credits, representing $0.024 per kilowatt hour of electricity produced for the first 10 years of operation.
This amounts to an after-tax benefit of approximately $29.5m a year adjusted to inflation annually and, coupled with other tax attributes, will support the $275m tax equity investment.