Financing locked in for US' largest-ever solar-plus-battery project
Australian investment house Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and US developer Primergy Solar have closed $1.9bn in construction debt and tax equity financing for the Gemini PV-plus-storage project in the state of Nevada, set to be the largest-ever US solar hybrid development once online in the fourth quar of 2023. Debt financing for the megaproject, which will wire together a 690MW PV plant and a 1,417MWh (380MW) battery energy storage system on a site on federal land in the Mohave Desert, includes $1.3bn in credit facilities, including a construction/term loan, tax equity bridge loan, and a letter of credit facility. The project has a 25-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy, the state’s dominant electric utility that is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.