FINANCE ROUND-UP: Potentia, Origis and Baywa r.e. close PV financing deals

The financing, provided by a group of seven “major Australian and international financial institutions”, will support six of Potentia Energy’s utility-scale solar, battery energy storage and wind power projects with a cumulative capacity over 600MW.

The financiers are: Bank of China, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Mizuho Bank, Societe Generale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Westpac Banking Corporation.

The company did not disclose the specific projects the financing would support, but said it included sites under construction across Australia.

In October, Potentia Energy secured approval for a 500MW solar-plus-storage project in New South Wales. The AU$1.3 billion (US$860 million) Tallawang project builds on Potentia Energy’s substantial renewables portfolio in Australia. The company was founded in 2024 as a joint venture between Italian energy major Enel’s renewables arm, Enel Green Power, and Japanese oil and gas firm Inpex.

Origis Energy closes US$290 million for Texas PV projects

US IPP Origis Energy has reached financial close on two solar PV projects in Texas with a combined generation capacity of 313MW.

The Swift Air Solar II and III projects in Ector County are slated to begin commercial energy production before the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, under two power purchase agreements (PPA) with Houston-based Occidental Power and its subsidiary, OLCV Stratos Development, to power a carbon capture facility in the Permian Basin, west Texas.

The senior secured debt financing came from Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking (Natixis CIB) and Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, comprising construction debt, term debt and a tax credit bridge loan.

“These projects further demonstrate Origis Energy’s ability to scale efficiently and mark another step toward bringing over 3GW of long-term contracted assets into commercial operation by the end of 2026,” said Alice Heathcote, chief financial officer, Origis Energy.

Back in January, Origis secured US$415 million to finance the Swift Air Solar sites, the first of which entered commercial operation earlier this year, also under a PPA with Occidental Power.

Swift Air II and III represent the first phase of a larger, 600MW solar complex in Ector County, Origis said. The company said it expects three more projects in the area to receive Notice to Proceed before the end of the year.

The company recently secured funding for more than 300MW of PV projects in Florida and Alabama.

Baywa r.e. bags US$416M for San Diego solar-plus-storage site

Baywa r.e. Americas, the US subsidiary of German renewables developer Baywa r.e., has closed financing on the 127MW/280MWh Jacumba Valley Ranch (JVR) solar-plus-storage project in San Diego County, California.

The US$416 million financing came through three vehicles; a construction-to-term loan facility, led by Société Générale; a preferred equity investment from funds managed by Wafra, a New York-based alternative investment manager; and a preferred equity investment from Acadia Infrastructure Capital, a power infrastructure investor.

Baywa r.e. said the project will be operational in the autumn of 2026 and has signed a tax credit transfer agreement with “a large corporate buyer”. Construction is already underway.

Tax credit transferability has been a significant tool in opening up investment for US solar projects over the last two years. Recipients of tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) can sell their credits for cash to companies, investors or other parties looking to meet renewables targets. In turn, the power producers or project owners can liquidate more money for future investments.

The US clean energy tax credit transferability market more than doubled in size between H1 2024 and H1 2025, reaching US$20 billion, according to data from renewables financing platform Crux.