US independent power producer (IPP) Avantus has closed US$300 million in tax equity for a 150MW/452MWh solar-plus-storage project in California.
The funds, delivered by Truist Bank, will support the Aratina 2 solar-plus-storage project in Kern County, California, which is currently under construction and expected to be operational by the end of 2026.
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Michael Joh, senior vice president, project finance at Avantus, said the tax equity was “the final piece of financing Aratina 2 needs to complete construction and enter our operating portfolio later this year.”
The project has a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in place with power utility Southern California Edison.
Kern County in Southern California is home to a lot of large, utility-scale solar and energy storage projects. As well as Avantus’ presence, the county—which spans the southern end of California’s Central Valley—hosts developments from Idemitsu Renewables, Origis Energy and the Younan Company.
The US$300 million adds to the roughly US$525 million that Avantus secured in construction financing for the Aratina 2 project, led by BBVA. Once operational, the second phase of Aratina will bring the total capacity of the site to 350MW of solar PV and 952MWh of energy storage, building on the Aratins 1 project that entered commercial operations last month.
The company, which is majority-owned by institutional investor KKR, said it is on track to bring 788MW of solar and energy storage online by the end of this year, out of its total development pipeline of 24GW. Earlier this month, Avantus closed a US$1 billion credit facility to support the development of that pipeline.
As well as California, Avantus has advanced solar, energy storage and co-located projects across most of the major US state markets for renewables. It inked a PPA for a 100MW/400MWh solar-plus-storage project in Arizona in late 2024, and completed construction at a 159MW solar PV project in Texas earlier this year.
