Wagyu solar project is the fourth plant to have reached financial close in a 580MW solar portfolio that was acquired by Cubico from Cypress Creek
Image: Cubico achieves financial close for Texan solar project. Photo: Courtesy of Martin Pieske/Pixabay.
Renewable energy investor Cubico Sustainable Investments (Cubico) announced that it has reached financial close on the 162MW Wagyu solar project in Brazoria County, in the US state of Texas.
Wagyu solar project is the fourth project to reach financial close in the 580MW five project solar portfolio that Cubico acquired from Cypress Creek Renewables (Cypress Creek) this January.
Project finance debt was provided by HSBC, Nord LB and Rabobank and tax equity was offered by US Bank. The banks had also offered financing for Palmetto Plains and Huntley projects.
Three projects that closed before Wagyu include Palmetto Plains and Huntley in South Carolina and Crooked Run in North Carolina.
Cubico Americas head Ricardo Díaz said: “We are pleased to have closed our fourth project in the United States in record timing and want to thank our partners and counterparties for working alongside us. We will continue to focus our origination efforts on expanding the US portfolio and look forward to continued growth as we work towards a clean energy future.”
Wagyu project is presently under construction under an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Renewable Energy Systems (RES) and it is expected to be fully operational in the third quarter of next year and Cypress Creek will provide operations and maintenance services.
Wagyu solar project is supported by 15-year corporate PPA
The solar project is supported by a combination of a 15-year corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) with Starbucks and a 12-year physical hedge from BP.
Cypress Creek CEO Sarah Slusser said: “Wagyu is Cypress Creek’s largest project yet to reach financial close and start construction. This was an especially complex and exciting closing, and we are pleased to work with Starbucks again and now BP.
“The entire Cypress Creek team is thrilled to work alongside Cubico in creating valuable projects that benefit communities, bringing jobs, clean energy and a tax base for the future.”
Earlier this month, Cubico had started operations of two Mexican wind farms with a total capacity of 600MW.
The wind farms include the 250MW Mezquite wind farm in Nuevo León and the 350MW Solem solar PV project in Aguascalientes, one of the largest of its kind to reach commercial operations in Latin America.