Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., has secured $513 million in financing for its Papago Storage project, located in Maricopa County, Arizona.
The 1,200 MWh Papago Storage, which will be the largest energy storage project in Arizona, is expected to begin operation in the third quarter of 2024, with commercial operations scheduled for the second quarter of 2025. Once operational, it is expected The project will provide enough energy for approximately 244,000 homes for four hours a day.
Papago’s battery energy storage systems (BESS) project will utilize e-Storage’s SolBank, a proprietary, containerized battery energy storage solution designed and manufactured for commercial-scale applications. SolBank, which was announced at RE+ in Anaheim in 2022, uses high-cycle lithium-ferrophosphate (LFP) batteries with an energy capacity of 2.8 MWh.
Recurrent Energy, which owns the project, secured a 20-year tolling agreement with Arizona Public Service (APS) for the energy storage project, under which the utility pays for the right to charge and discharge the battery when you need it.
MUFG and Nord/LB acted as lead coordinators for the financing of the Papago Storage project. The financing includes a $249 million construction and term loan, a $163 million tax equity bridge loan and a $101 million documentary credit facility. Bank of America, CoBank, DNB, Rabobank, Siemens Financial Services and Zions were joint arrangers of the transaction.
“Today we are thrilled to see nearly a decade of planning culminate with the financing of what will be the largest energy storage project in Arizona,” said Ismael Guerrero, CEO of Recurrent Energy. “We appreciate the continued support of our partners Nord/LB and MUFG in our shared mission to advance the clean energy transition.”
Last April, Canadian Solar rebranded its global energy subsidiary as Recurrent Energy. This segment develops standalone solar and battery storage projects, as well as hybrid solar and storage projects. To date, Recurrent Energy has delivered over 10 GWp of solar projects and 3.3 GWh of energy storage projects, with a global project development pipeline of 26 GWp and 56 GWh for solar and energy storage. respectively, the company reports. In North America, Recurrent Energy is developing a portfolio of 6.3 GWp of solar projects and 18.9 GWh of battery energy storage projects.
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