A roundup of US battery storage project financing news from this week, with deals struck by SMT Energy and UBS, Plus Power, as well as CleanCapital and Available Power, covering over 1GW of projects.
Plus Power secures US$100 million tax equity financing for ERCOT BESS
Developer-operator Plus Power has secured a US$100 million tax equity financing to support the construction and commissioning of a 200MW/400MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Texas, whose electricity market is run by grid operator ERCOT.
The investment came from Greenprint Capital Management, and will help the project reach a commercial operation in Spring 2024.
It comes a few months after Plus Power secured a US$1.8 billion financing package for five BESS projects in ERCOT and Arizona, totalling nearly 3GWh of energy storage, which executive chairman Brandon Keefe told Energy-Storage.news showed it was “…driving energy storage into the mainstream of capital markets”.
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SMT Energy sells 400MW of ERCOT BESS to UBS
In related ERCOT news, developer SMT Energy has sold 400MW of BESS projects in the state to UBS Asset Management, which will come online over the course of 2024 and 2025.
SMT Energy said the firm has now developed over US$1.5 billion of BESS projects in the US and operates one of the largest portfolios in the country. It recently sold a portfolio of 10 projects, also in ERCOT, to investor SUSI Partners.
CleanCapital and Available Power agree JV for US BESS development
Investor CleanCapital and BESS developer Available Power have formed a joint venture (JV) to develop BESS projects across the US.
The co-operation will see CleanCapital provide project financing, development, and construction expertise while Available Power will provide market insights, technology, and engineering expertise to develop the projects.
The announcement didn’t specify where the projects would be. Available Power has been active in the ERCOT market, which the firm’s VP business development Alex Krass discussed at last year’s Energy Storage Summit USA, put on by our publisher Solar Media.
It’s not clear how much BESS the pair plan to develop, but CleanCapital said it has a near-term pipeline exceeding 500MWh.
Solvent Energy enlists investment bank to explore sale of 3.6GW solar and storage portfolio
Developer Solvent Energy has hired Fifth Third Securities as financial advisor to explore the monetising of a large solar and storage portfolio, also in ERCOT, which could include a sale of projects at the ready-to-build (RTB) stage.
The 15 projects have a combined capacity of 3.6GW comprise of three solar-plus-storage projects and 12 standalone energy storage ones. Among these is the 200MW solar, 400MW/800MWh BESS Forts Trail project which has already reached RTB in 2023, while the rest of the projects are targeting RTB this year.
Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 5th Energy Storage Summit USA, 19-20 March 2024 in Austin, Texas. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.
