Recurrent Energy the wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese solar company Canadian Solar has closed financing for a 75 MW solar PV project currently under construction in California.
Under the agreement, a a tax equity investment commitment has been secured from GE unit GE Energy Financial Services for the completion of the Astoria 2 solar power project. Once complete, the solar farm will be owned and operated by Recurrent Energy.
Overall, a total of $180 million has been secured via a debt financing package, the details of which were outlined in a press release issued by Canadian Solar. Spanish bank Santander led a consortium of five member banks (including NORD/LB, Rabobank, Key Bank and CIT Bank) to provide project-level construction debt, a back-leveraged term loan facility and a letter of credit facility.
"The support of this bank club and the expansion of our work with GE reflects our ability to consistently deliver high quality solar assets," said Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Shawn Qu.
For GE Energy Financial Services, the investment builds upon $2 billion already invested in 2 GW of solar PV projects globally, Kevin Walsh, managing director and head of renewables at GE Energy Financial Services said.
Canadian Solar issues $100 million in new shares
Canadian Solar has also announced that it is to sell up to $100 million of its common shares via an at-the-market equity offering program in order to generate capital for "general corporate purposes", the company has revealed in a statement.
Offered through its sales agent Credit Suisse, the sale of Canadian Solars common shares under such an at-the-market program could be made at the companys discretion from time to time, including on the NASDAQ and in negotiated transactions at market prices.
Monies raised via the share sale may be plowed into solar power project development and working capital two of the general corporate purposes outlined by Canadian Solar.
The common shares will be offered under Canadian Solars automatic shelf registration statement, and the terms of the offering are described in a prospectus that has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In December, Canadian Solar secured $126 million in financing from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank for the pursuit of further "general corporate purposes" namely the development of 86 MW of solar projects in the U.K. and Japan. Financing was secured via a non-recourse project finance credit facility (for a 48 MW Japanese PV project) and a standard loan facility for a series of U.K. projects.
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