Intersect Power lands USD 2.6bn in solar project financing

Clean energy firm Intersect Power LLC said on Thursday it has obtained USD 2.6 billion (EUR 2.3bn) in financing commitments to support the construction and operation of a six-project portfolio with 2.2 GW DC of late-stage solar and 1.4 GWh of storage capacity.

The financing comes from eight separate transactions, which should allow the company to execute the following projects: Athos III, Oberon I and II in California, as well as Radian, Lumina I and II in Texas. All six are expected to become operational by 2023.

Intersect Power said it has secured USD 1.4 billion of portfolio level, term debt funding from HPS Investment Partners and co-investors, along with existing Intersect investors CarVal Investors, Generate and Climate Adaptive Infrastructure.

The company explained that the term financing facility, for which Bank of America and Morgan Stanley & Co LLC acted as co-lead arrangers and structuring agents, incorporates structuring and pricing provisions designed to account for the higher proportion of uncontracted revenue in the portfolio.

At the same time, Intersect Power has agreed on USD 800 million in construction financing led by co-coordinating lead arrangers MUFG and Santander Bank NA. The proceeds from this facility will be used to finance the construction of Athos III in California’s Riverside County, with a direct current (DC) capacity of 310 MW and 453 MWh of battery storage, and of the 415-MW DC Radian solar project in Texas’ Brown County. Both should come online in late 2022.

Last but not least, the company has secured some USD 400 million of commitments from tax equity investors such as Bank of America and Morgan Stanley Renewables Inc.

"This financing will allow Intersect to deliver a core set of projects in the next two years that will serve as the platform for future growth into green hydrogen and beyond,” said Sheldon Kimber, founder and CEO of Intersect, who believes that innovative ways should be adopted when financing clean energy assets because the current long-term offtake contracts actually destroy value.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.884)

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