Energy platform Permanent Power Company has secured US$600 million in construction financing for a solar-plus-storage project in California, US.
Located in California’s San Joaquin Valley and part of the 20,000-acre Westlands Solar Park, the solar and energy storage Grape project comprises 246.4MW solar PV and 150MW/600MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
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Currently under construction, the Grape project recently secured a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with an undisclosed regulated energy service provider. The offtake agreement will cover the entire capacity of the solar generation and energy storage at the Grape project.
The financing package includes nearly US$372.3 million construction-to-term loan, nearly $166.7 million tax credit transfer bridge loan, and an approximately $61.3 million letter of credit facility.
US-based bank Truist served as the administrative agent under the facility, while Wells Fargo served as the collateral agent.
“This financing is an important milestone for Permanent Power Company that reflects the confidence our capital partners have in our ability to develop and deliver large-scale power generation and energy storage projects. Grape is particularly notable given that an investment-grade offtaker signed a long-term PPA for its full solar and storage capacity prior to completion, underscoring both the strength of the project and the approach we bring to our platform,” said Avi Shemesh, Co-Founder and Principal at CIM Group.
Permanent Power Company was launched last month by US real estate investment company CIM Group with an initial portfolio of 1.2GW for solar PV – of which more than half is already operational – and 690MW/2,760MWh of BESS, of which 360MW/1,440MWh is operational.
As the energy platform was launched last month, it also secured a US$400 million financing commitment from investment firm HPS Investment Partners, which is part of global asset manager BlackRock.
