Longroad Energy acquired the Little Bear solar project from First Solar last year
Longroad Energy to build solar plant in California. (Credit: Pixabay/Sebastian Ganso.)
Longroad Energy has reached the financial close ction of the 215MW Little Bear Solar, comprising four separate projects, to be located in Fresno County, California.
KeyBanc Capital Markets and Santander Corporate & Investment Banking provided $333m in credit facilities for the Little Bear solar project. US Bank is the sole tax equity investor in the project.
The Little Bear solar project will sell energy and RECs to Marin Clean Energy (MCE) under 20-year busbar power purchase agreements (PPAs). The solar plants are expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
Little Bear Solar will create about 500 jobs during the construction phase
During the construction phase, nearly 500 jobs could be created at the project, while contributing $2m in sales and property taxes.
Longroad Energy acquired the Little Bear solar project from First Solar last year.
Swinerton Renewable Energy has been contracted to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the project.
First Solar will supply its Series 6 technology-based solar panels for the project. The inverters and solar trackers will be supplied by Power Electronics and NEXTracker, respectively.
Two Danish pension funds, PKA and PenSam, represented by their investment manager AIP have acquired 50% stake in Longroad Energy’s Little Bear solar project and the 379MW Prospero I Solar project located in Andrews County, Texas.
Longroad CEO Paul Gaynor said: “Longroad is excited to complete the financing of the Little Bear solar projects and to broaden our partnership with PKA and PenSam through AIP. The Longroad/AIP partnership now owns 837 MW of wind and solar projects.
“Last July, AIP made its first US onshore wind investment, joining Longroad as investors in the El Campo wind project in Knox County, TX, which is currently under construction and expected to come online in the second quarter of 2020.
“Prospero I is expected to come online in the second quarter of 2020 and Little Bear is projected to come online in the fourth quarter of 2020. We are delighted to own these three great projects alongside AIP.”