SunEdison announced that, along with Firelight Infrastructure Partners, it has attained financial close for a 10MW solar project being built in Ontario. Completed through a construction and term debt credit facility, the project is owned by SunEdison and Firelight as equity partners. Deutsche Bank worked as the private placement agent for the transaction, which was supported by a consortium of lenders.
The 10MW project is located in Norfolk County, Ontario, and just began construction on September 4. Upon its completion (slated for Q1 2013) the site will produce around 14GWh of energy per year. It will use 43,500 polycrystalline PV modules supplied by SunEdison’s parent company MEMC, which are to be manufactured in Ontario. SunEdison will manage the plant’s operations and maintenance services once construction is completed.
“In addition to the environmental benefits, this is another great example of how the FiT program is helping to create and sustain jobs in Ontario,” said Michael Dilworth, VP and country manager for SunEdison Canada. “In addition to utilizing local labour for approximately 85 contract construction jobs and ongoing operations, all of the solar panels used for the project are made right here in the province. Also making the project unique for us is the use of a private placement approach, which opens up new sources of financing for SunEdison and broadens the lending market for solar assets in Canada.”
The project marks SunEdison’s second utility scale project to be constructed under the FiT program. The power generated by the installation will be sold to the Ontario Power Authority. The companies noted that Firelight will assume sole ownership of the project once it reaches commercial operation early next year.
