US solar developer BrightNight has closed a US$375 million corporate credit facility, which it plans to use to build out its pipeline of solar and storage projects, which have a combined capacity of 31GW.
Dutch bank ING, French firm Natixis CIB and Japanese bank SMBC acted as coordinating lead arrangers and green loan coordinators for the deal, while UK-headquartered bank HSBC served as joint lead arranger and administrative agent.
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BrightNight also noted that the deal was completed in line with the Green Loan Principles, a set of voluntary guidelines put in place by the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association, Loan Market Association and Loan Syndications and Trading Association to encourage greater investment into renewables projects.
“This funding is more than just capital; it represents an important step in BrightNight’s growth,” said BrightNight CEO Martin Hermann. “It enables us to accelerate our projects, procure equipment at attractive terms, and deliver clean renewable power for our customers.”
BrightNight noted that the funding would be used to provide equipment deposits, letters of credit and funds for project buildout across its development pipeline, but did not specify how the money would be split between its current projects. The company is currently developing four solar projects in the US states of Arizona and Kentucky, with a combined capacity of 845MW.
The news follows a year in which BrightNight made a number of investments into new solar projects, including an 800MW solar project at a former coal mine in Kentucky, and a 300MW PV plant in Arizona.
The firm has also invested in the battery storage sector, developing the Greenwater Storage Project in Washington state, which has a capacity of 200MW/800MWh, and a 4-hour discharge. BrightNight plans to combine these technologies at its Hop Hill project, also in Washington state, an agrivoltaics project with a capacity of 500MW, and battery storage facilities of the same size.
The news is an encouraging development for the agrivoltaics sector in particular, which saw significant interest and investment in 2023, as developers have sought to combine solar generation with traditional agricultural work. In November, the European Commission approved a €1.7 billion (US$1.8 billion) investment scheme to support 1GW of agrivoltaics projects in Italy, and investments into large-scale agriPV projects in the US will help sustain this momentum.
