SolarVision, a developer of solar energy projects, has successfully closed an US$18 million transaction to fund its 5MW utility-scale PV project in Celina, Ohio, US. The funding was the result of a comprehensive partnership with New Energy Capital Cleantech Infrastructure Fund, Q-Cells North America, Finance Fund and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The deal took 18 months to culminate and makes use of new market tax credits (NMTC). The NMTC programme helps to finance business investments in the US. SolarVision is one of the largest NMTC developers for solar power in the country. Including the Celina solar power deal, SolarVision has received a combined total of US$23 million in NMTC. According to SolarVision, the Celine deal represents one of the largest NTMC transactions for solar energy.
As part of the partnership, Finance Fund, the company which monetized US$5.3 million in NMTC for SolarVision two years ago for five PV projects in Ohio, helped to secure the state and federal NMTC for the Celina project which covers the entire US$18 million. The NMTC for the Celina project has been monetized by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The funding was provided by New Energy Capital, which joined the Celina project as an investor. Q-Cells North America, which will supply EPC and PV modules for the project, also provided a bridge financing loan which brought the deal to a close.
The deal between these organizations marks the start of an on-going collaboration on sustainable energy projects throughout the US.
The 5MW Celina solar system will be connected to Celina’s own electric company and will provide enough power to meet around 8% of the city’s annual energy demands.
