The US Export-Import Bank will provide First Solar with $455.7 million of loan guarantees to construct a pair of solar PV power projects in Ontario, Canada.
The bank will guarantee a $236.7 million loan for a 50MW plant to be built near Amherstburg, Belmont, and Walpole townships, and another $219 million loan for a 40MW farm slated for construction in St. Clair. The debt will be repaid over 18 years.
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NextEra Energy Resources will own the plants and then sell the power generated from the PV systems to the Ontario Power Authority under the terms of a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The hundreds of thousands of cadmium-telluride thin-film PV modules to be deployed for the 90MW projects, which will be among the largest in North America when completed, will be manufactured at First Solar’s Perrysburg, OH, factory. Details of the other balance of system components have not been disclosed.
Ex-Im Bank said that its support was needed “because viable long-term financing for these projects was not otherwise available in the commercial marketplace.”
The guarantee is said to be the largest that the Ex-Im Bank has approved for U.S. solar products shipped abroad. Earlier this year, the bank also awarded loan guarantees of $118 million for solar projects in India that will use First Solar panels.
