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Enlight Announces Financial Close on Atrisco Energy Storage Project
The financing package for the energy storage portion of the project includes over $400 million of loans and tax equity arranged by HSBC and U.S. Bank
Atrisco is one of Enlight's flagship projects in the U.S., combining 364 MW of solar generation capacity with 1.2 GWh of battery storage capacity, and is expected to reach full COD later this year
The financial close for the Energy Storage Project completes the financing and tax equity arrangements of the entire Atrisco complex
TEL AVIV, Israel, July 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd. (("Enlight", "the Company", NASDAQ:ENLT, TASE: ENLT.TA)), a leading global renewable energy platform, today announced that the Company has closed the financing (the "financial close") for the Energy Storage portion of its flagship Atrisco Solar and Energy Storage project, located outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA (the "Financing"). The Company reached financial close on the Atrisco Solar project in December 2023, and the financing of the Energy Storage portion completes financing and tax equity arrangements for the entire Atrisco project.
The Atrisco complex combines364 MW of solar generation capacity with 1.2 GWh of battery storage, cost $827 million to build, and will be financed by $290 million of term debt and $420 million of tax equity (a combined 86% of total cost), with Enlight's long-term equity investmentamounting to $117 million (14% of total cost). The project, which is the largest project undertaken by the Company to date, is now in the commissioning phase leading up to partial COD, and is expected to reach full COD later this year.
As part of the financial close, Enlight through its subsidiary, Clenera Holdings LLC, has entered into a loan agreement with a consortium of eight leading global banks led by HSBC, totaling $401 million to finance the construction of Atrisco Energy Storage. The loan will convert into a $185 million term loan from the same group of lenders and tax equity financing of $222 million provided by U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance upon the project's COD. The term loan is structured with a 20-year underlying amortization profile with a 5-year mini perm, and is subject to an all-in interest rate (fixed base + margin) of 5.6% to 5.9%. The competitive financing terms achieved reflect the high quality of the Atrisco project.
The Atrisco Solar project was financed by a consortium of leading global banks led by HSBC, and tax equity was provided by Bank of America. The Atrisco project's tax equity financing qualified for the Energy Community IRA adder due to a brownfield addition to the project.
In connection with the financing of the Atrisco Energy Storage project, Enlight expects to recycle $234 million of equity back to its balance sheet, which will be used to fund future growth. Additional financial information regarding the Atrisco co-located solar and energy storage complex appears in the following table:
(as expected at COD)
Total project cost
Term debt
Upfront tax equity
Sponsor equity
Atrisco Storage
$458 million
$185 million
$ 222 million
$52 million
Atrisco Solar
$369 million
$105 million
$198 million1
$65 million
Total
$827 million
$290 million
$420 million
$117 million