Longroad Energy Holdings, a renewable energy developer, announced the financial close and commencement of construction of the Prospero 2 Solar Project, a 331 MWdc project located in Andrews County, TX.
Longroad will own the $320 million project, which is expected to come on-line in the second quarter of 2021. Longroad will also manage the construction.
Prospero 2 is adjacent to Longroad’s Prospero 1 project, which recently declared commercial operation. Prospero 1 is co-owned by Longroad and AIP.
“We want to commend our lead lending and tax equity partners, US Bank and CIT Group, for being especially constructive and supportive throughout the process,” said Peter Keel, chief financial officer of Longroad.
The Prospero 2 closing marks over 2 GW of total wind and solar projects developed, financed, and built in Texas by the Longroad team.
The Prospero 2 project will cover more than 2,500 acres in Andrews County, Texas. The project will deliver more than $9 million in property taxes, including almost $6 million to the Andrews ISD. The Project will create several hundred construction jobs as well as jobs for the operating facility. The Project expects to pay more than $10 million in wages over the life of the project.
The project has two 15-year power purchase agreements (PPAs), one with DaVita and another with a subsidiary of Zimmer Biomet Holdings.
The major project components are as follows:
# EPC contract with Swinerton Renewable Energy
# Panel supply with First Solar, using Series 6 technology
# Inverter supply with Power Electronics
# Tracker supply with NEXTracker
CIT led a group of six other bank lenders in arranging financing on the project. CIT said it is providing a comprehensive package of capital markets services and treasury management solutions, said Mike Lorusso, managing director and group head of CIT’s Power and Energy unit.