Longroad Energy has completed its 200MW Sun Streams 2 solar project in Arizona and closed term financing for the asset.
Longroad owns 100% of the project after acquiring it in early 2021 from First Solar, the original developer.
CIBC was the coordinating lead arranger, collateral agent and issuing bank.
“Sun Streams 2 is a great project, and we are happy to finalize the permanent capital structure,” said Peter Keel, chief financial officer of Longroad Energy.
Sun Streams 2 has a 20-year revenue agreement with Microsoft Corporation for the energy, renewable energy certificates and capacity of the full project to support the renewable energy goals of its new sustainable data centre region, West US 3.
First Solar was the original developer of the project as well as the supplier of the Series 6 modules.
The project was built by McCarthy, the trackers were supplied by Nextracker and inverters were supplied by SMA.
Sun Streams 2 is one of four Maricopa County-based projects that Longroad acquired from First Solar in February 2021.
The solar and storage portfolio totals approximately 900MW (DC) with the potential for 1-2 gigawatt hours of battery storage.
Sun Streams 3, 4, and 5 are development projects with target operational dates between 2022 and 2024.
These projects are ideally positioned to accommodate a variety of offtake structures, with or without storage.
The projects are expected to generate over $40m for Arizona’s schools via a long-term lease with the Arizona State Land Department, and over $5m in tax revenue.
The Sun Streams projects mark a growing presence in Arizona for Longroad.
The company owns other operating solar projects in the state as well as an existing development portfolio.
The Sun Streams site is well situated, adjacent to a significant power hub in the desert south-west and California, offering excellent solar resource, and access to multiple transmission options with direct access to CAISO and the south-west markets.
Longroad affiliate Longroad Energy Services is the asset manager and operator, and is providing remote monitoring services to the project over the long term.