Engie has signed an agreement to sell a 49% equity interest in a 2300MW US renewables portfolio to clean energy investor Hannon Armstrong.
The portfolio will comprise 1.8GW of onshore wind capacity and 500MW of solar photovoltaic capacity when fully operational.
Under the agreement, Hannon Armstrong will take immediate ownership of 49% of 663MW of commissioned wind projects.
The remaining 1.6GW of projects, under construction, will be transferred into the partnership upon commissioning.
Engie will continue to consolidate the projects in its accounts, retain a controlling share in the portfolio and will continue to manage the assets.
The portfolio will contribute to Engie’s goal of commissioning 9GW additional renewable capacity by 2021.
Engie North America chief executive Gwenaelle Avice-Huet said: “The US is a key growth market for our renewables business, where we have a strong pipeline of opportunities and a solid development and operational platform to grow from.
“We are delighted to have partnered with Hannon Armstrong, a company solely dedicated to investments in climate change solutions.”
“We have a shared mission to accelerate to the rapid adoption of climate change solutions, and we are pleased to partner with Engie once again to that end.
“This investment adds significant scale and diversity to our portfolio” said Hannon Armstrong chairman and CEO Jeffrey Eckel.
In April 2020, Engie secured $1.6bn (€1.4bn) in tax equity commitments, bringing the total tax equity commitments for the portfolio to almost $2bn, the largest to date in the US.
Tax equity financing is the traditional structure used in the US to support the development of renewable projects.
The portfolio comprises nine onshore wind projects and four solar, located in the wholesale markets of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), PJM Interconnection (PJM) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).