California solar and storage project secures $1.1 billion

Arevon Energy, a renewable energy developer, owner, and operator announced it has secured $1.1 billion in aggregate financing commitments to support the development of its Eland 2 Solar-plus-Storage project in Kern County, California.

Eland 2 is a 374 MW solar, 150 MW / 600 MWh storage project. The project is slated to come online in Q1 2025.

Wells Fargo provided $431 million in tax equity commitment. Arevon also obtained $654 million of debt financing, including a construction-to-term loan, tax equity bridge loan, and letter of credit facilities.

Eland 2 will provide 200 MW of electricity under a power purchase agreement with Southern California Public Power Authority. The project will dispatch electricity from Tesla Megapack 2 XL batteries, for up to four hour durations during peak grid demand.

Combined with the project’s first phase Eland 1, the projects will total for 751 MWdc of solar and 300 MW / 1,200 MWh of energy storage. 

“Solar-plus-storage projects – like our flagship Eland 1 and 2 facilities – play an important role in Arevon’s strategy. Hybrid power plants deliver a more reliable, predictable energy yield during peak electricity demand periods, which in turn enables consistent returns across our diverse, multi-gigawatt portfolio,” said Kevin Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Arevon.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) served as the administrative agent, coordinating lead arranger, green loan coordinator, and bookrunner. Other coordinating lead arrangers included BNP Paribas, CoBank, Commerzbank AG, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and National Bank of Canada. J.P. Morgan served as joint lead arranger, collateral and depositary agent. Amis, Patel & Brewer, LLP represented Arevon as sponsor counsel; Milbank LLP served as lender counsel; and Sheppard Mullin served as tax equity counsel.

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Arevon owns and operates more than 3.5 GW of solar and storage assets across the country. The company has a project pipeline of more than 6 GW in development.

Arevon also recently announced a successful close of $350 million from Blackstone Credit and Insurance. The funds will support a 200 MW / 800 MWh battery project in Grand Terrace, California that is slated to reach commercial operations in Q2 2024. The project made use of the Inflation Reduction Act’s new tax credit transferability rule.